The Lost and the Caged
by Lightningpelt 6.0
Summary: Shiganshina, a district abandoned by the monarchy after the Fall of Maria, was expected to decay, along with all it's people.But three children refused to die- even if survival costs their humanity. Eren struggles for sanity in the face of his mother's death; Mikasa simply wants to hold her tattered family together. And Armin's plans may mean the salvation or demise of all mankind.
1. The Fall of Eren Jaeger

**(A/N) Greetings, and welcome to _The Lost and the Caged_! I do hope you enjoy your stay. This fic is my pride and joy right now, so I decided to share it on this site, as well. I've posted up through chapter five over on AO3; I'll post the link below. On , I'll be posting one chapter per day until all five are up here, as well; after that, I'll be posting on both sites. However, if you really want to stay on top of things, follow my tumblr, .com 3 **

**AO3 link: /users/Lightningpelt **

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For a long time, things went on as normal- I suppose we were blessed, in that regard.

However, civilization dissolved quickly enough once we realized what was going on.

... ... ...

_Days Since the End of the World _

Armin kept a tally on the wall of his room- we'd all forget, if he didn't.

Technically, I suppose the "world ended" several weeks before any of us were even aware of it. Wall Maria was breached at its Northernmost point, and it took that long for any of us in Shiganshina to find out. We had thought it was strange, of course, that the weekly batch of food from the fields had failed to show up, but that happened from time to time- it was nothing to get alarmed about.

Then, the rumors had begun.

A pair of the Garrison had rushed into town around dawn, shrieking about seeing Titans on the wrong side of the wall. The vast majority of the population had laughed it off- the Garrison were well-known drunkards, and Titans on the wrong side of Wall Maria were unthinkable. Only Hannes had really taken them seriously; I had, of course, but I was only a 12 year old child, and my opinion made little difference. Armin had as well, I discovered later, and had already begun to plan for the inevitable.

Then the alleged sightings got more frequent. At first everyone had thought they were jokes- copycats, mocking those first two, drunken guards. But as the days began to slip by, no one wanted to venture outside our own little Walls- not even to see what was holding up the food delivery. Armin began to take action around that time, already stacking the cards in our favor; he began to stockpiled food, and convinced us to do the same. We stashed it everywhere- his basement, his attic, our attic, our rooms… everywhere except for my basement.

Dad had promised to show me what was in the basement, when he returned from his trip to Wall Rose. But I was becoming more and more certain that Dad wasn't coming back; Mom, as well, was frantic, and it was getting harder to convince her to let Mikasa and I out of her sight.

And then, one day, Hannes came barging into our house. It was early dawn; the sun had only just begun to stain the sky pink, and it was a fluke that I was even awake. But I _was_ awake; Armin had come over for some reason I can't remember just now, and so all three of us were in the living room when Hannes nearly broke our door down amid the surreal dawn light.

"The Titans...!" he gasped. "It's true! Wall Maria has fallen!"

Within a day, the whole of Shiganshina was in an uproar. Mom was numb; she simply sat, staring into the distance, occasionally murmuring my father's name. Again it was Armin who gave us something constructive to do. I was full of energy, ready to fight back, but I didn't know how; my friend, however, seemed to know the right thing to do, just like he always did.

"It's only a matter of time," he said, "days, probably, before society starts to collapse. Then it'll be every family for itself. We have to be prepared for that."

That was also the day that he started his tally.

Mikasa was hit harder than the two of us, I think; we, on some level- or at least I -enjoyed the adventure that had been presented to us. She, however, was losing her home all over again. We set up a camp in Armin's basement- gathering most of the food we had already collected, basic supplies like candles and blankets, etc.

We convinced my mom to move in with Armin and his grandfather, at least temporarily. "There'll be attacks," Armin had informed us shakily, "and lootings. We should all try to stay in one spot so that we can help each other. Humans are pack animals at their core- when society starts to crumble, that's what they'll revert to."

"Don't worry!" I had exclaimed, slapping Armin on the back and looping my arm around Mikasa's shoulders. "I'll protect you guys! I'll protect us all!"

I didn't take care of them alone- I wasn't ready for that, as much as I would've liked to think as much. Hannes stopped by our house once or twice a day; looked after us all. The Garrison was in total disarray, half its members deserting within the first few days. That left Hannes the most senior officer, and he tried to maintain control of the remaining troops. But by then the food was beginning to run out; people were hoarding it, like Armin had made sure we were already doing- he's the reason any of us survived at all.

People did indeed start to form packs, as Armin had predicted; his wall contained 17 etch-marks the day that Hannes rushed into our house, slamming the door behind him. Bullets shattered the wood in several places behind him, and Mom and Armin both screamed. Slumping to the ground, the head of the Garrison informed us that many of the early deserters had banded together; that they were attempting to take over the city. Even most of the Garrison who had remained loyal lacked the motivation to fight it; mad men with guns were the last thing the district needed.

"I'll fight them!" I cried. "Hannes, give me your gun! I'll fight them!"

"You will _not_," Mikasa said, grabbing a handful of my hair and drawing a yelp of pain from me. "Listen to what you're saying, Eren- you can't fight something like that."

"Mikasa's right, Eren," Hannes said sternly. "Leave this to the adults. We won't abandon you youngsters- we'll keep this town safe, even now, I promise."

"But I want to help!" I wailed, like the child I was. "Hannes, let me help!"

"You _can_ help," he told me gently, kneeling in front of me, "by looking after your mother, Mikasa, and Armin. And by getting stronger, because one day I'll be grateful to have you by my side."

There were twenty two marks on Armin's wall the day that Hannes' body was strung up in the center of the city.

Even more terrifying was the simple fact was that it wasn't the deserters who had done it- it was the townspeople. They were hungry and frightened, and they thought that Hannes- who had taken on a position of responsibility from the beginning -had let them down. After his death, no one tried to stop the quick decent into chaos; no one tried to take control. I might have, had Armin and Mother and Mikasa not begged me not to. I hated my own weakness, but clung to the words that Hannes had left me with.

_"Look after them. And get stronger." _

True to Armin's predictions, all pretenses of an organized society were gone within a month.

... ... ...

_Days Since the End of the World  
52 _

My stomach was throbbing with pain- I hadn't eaten in days, and I hadn't eaten _well _in weeks. But I was used to the pain, by now, and I had priorities other than food.

Recon.

We called them the Deserters, as was their rightful title. They were one of the strongest gangs around, although there were others. They occupied a large territory bordering ours to the North and the West; it was a constant concern that they would try to take our base- which happened to he Armin's house. It wouldn't even be up for discussion if they knew about the food we still had stockpiled in the basement; we would all be long dead if they knew.

Our small "gang," although I really hated to think of us that way, consisted of my mother, Mikasa, Armin, his grandfather, and myself. Mikasa and I mostly went out on patrols like this, although sometimes Armin joined us; Armin's grandfather watched over the house. My mother had been in a useless state of shock for the past several weeks, ever since Hannes' death. We had established a territory that extended four houses in each direction from Armin's; that included my old house, and bordered on the canal- a valuable source of semi-clean water. It was hard to maintain; the Deserters bordered us on two sides, and a group that consisted mainly of older children (they called themselves the Street Rats) were on our third. The canal, however, made our fourth border easy to defend.

I peered across the rooftops; a boy named Jones was keeping watch directly across the street, and our eyes met. Jones was about my age, but far more experienced with street life, enough so that the Street Rats saw him as an asset. I stuck out my tongue at him, and he glowered back.

The Street Rats wanted Mikasa and I to join- very much, actually, so much so that they had agreed to accept Armin as well. It made sense, considering most of their members had been beaten senseless by the two of us at least once- usually in defense of said Armin. But I could never even think of leaving Mom; neither could Mikasa, and Armin was similarly devoted to his grandfather. So their offers went unheeded, and they kept testing our borders.

I licked my dry lips; Jones hadn't moved an inch, and neither would I. I examined him- emaciated, dirty, and hollow-eyed, he seemed worse off than any of us. If it wasn't for Armin's foresight, we'd certainly have starved already; as it was, we were managing to eek our a living, at least as of yet.

Jones was the first one to rise. But instead of turning and retreating, he leaped down into the street that lay between our two territories. He didn't advance, simply waited; watched me expectantly. Within a couple of minutes, I couldn't resist; I wanted to see what he had to say. So I jumped down as well, walking out into the street with all the confidence I could muster.

"Where's Mikasa?" was the first thing he asked.

"On the Deserters' border," I answered truthfully. "I can deal with the likes of you."

The boy smirked; looked down. "We've offered all three of you a chance to join us," he said. "Why are you resisting? When it comes down to us kids, the greatest numbers have the best chance of survival. We aren't armed like the adults are. It's only a matter of time before your little family is going to be wiped out, and then the Deserters will turn to us. If all of us kids band together, we might have a fighting chance."

I scoffed. "You expect me to abandon my mom?"

"I abandoned mine!" he retorted. "And she wanted me to! She knew that I would die if I kept trying to defend her; yours must know the same!"

"I'm not weak like you!" I screamed, rage bubbling up in me at the mere thought of someone abandoning their mother. "I'll protect her even if it does cost my life! I'm not afraid to die!"

Jones sighed; kicked a stone on the road. "We're going to have to take you out ourselves, then," he said, somewhat regretfully. "Consider this a gentleman's warning: if we want to survive, we need to beat the Deserters to your territory. And we want to survive."

"Fine," I growled. "You just try."

Wordlessly, Jones turned; was gone, vanishing up a drainpipe and bounding over rooftops. With a sigh, I did the same, retreating back into the heart of our territory; there was little more I could do to secure such an invisible border anyway. I glanced briefly around the street as I did so; a fleeting fancy to check some of the houses over again made me pause, but I knew we had already scavenged most of what was useful. My stomach growled furiously at me, but I strove to ignore it; hunger was a fact of life, and a weakness I couldn't give in to.

Gunshots rang out suddenly, far too near for comfort, and I looked up sharply; if there was one thing that Jones was right about, it was that we children weren't armed like some of the adults. In some ways, death by gun seemed preferable to the more animalistic ways people had resorted to, but I would prefer to avoid the question of how I was to die altogether. Ignoring the commotion that had sprung up several blocks away, I made for home; random violence wasn't something I could afford to become entangled in.

"Eren!"

I skidded to a halt, looking over at the small shape approaching quickly from my right. "Mikasa!" I called, surprised. "What's wrong?"

"You were late coming back," my adopted sister said, her face wan with concern as she grabbed for my hand. "I was worried something might have happened."

"Not really," I replied evasively, scratching the back of my neck with my free hand. As she continued to stare at me with those piercing eyes of hers, I finally admitted, "I just ran into Jones. He wanted to give us fair warning that the Street Rats are going to try to run us out."

"I'll kill them if they try," the girl growled instantly, and I hurried to calm her.

"We just need to keep them out, Mikasa, and we will! We don't need to fight them!"

"..." The girl didn't reply, but instead she tightened her grip on my hand. "Armin wants to talk to all of us about something. We should hurry back."

Nodding reluctantly, I jerked my hand away before following her across the remaining rooftops. "I'm not your kid brother," I muttered, but she didn't reply to that, either.

The two of us slipped into the attic window; we had barricaded the doors to make our base easier to defend if, worst case scenario, we found ourselves trapped inside. The whole house was arranged with that basic idea in mind- Mom and Armin's grandfather had their room on the first floor, while Mikasa, Armin and I slept on the second. The attic was mostly empty aside from a few traps designed to warn us of intruders, and our supplies were all stored in the basement.

We found everyone gathered in the living room, with Armin leaning against the front wall. My blonde friend looked pale and thin, thinner and more tired than either Mikasa or I. We knew that he hadn't been eating even the meager amount that we did; he said that he didn't need it, considering how often he went out patrolling or scavenging compared to us. We tried to convince him otherwise, but there was little we could do short of force-feeding him, which Mikasa had actually resorted to several times.

"What's up, dude?" I asked, trying to sound cheerful as I ruffled his hair and came away with a handful of the brittle strands. "Why the family meeting?"

"To discuss the future," Armin replied seriously, and then waited until all of us were seated. It was his habit to pace when he addressed us all at once, but he seemed to lack the energy required to push away from the wall.

"Oh?" his grandfather asked encouragingly, and Armin shot him a grateful glance.

"Shiganshina was never meant to he a farming district," he began steadily. "That's why food is running out so quickly. So far, the strongest groups have been getting by by scavenging and looting, but there's going to be an end to that- an end where_ everyone_, regardless of strength or territory, starves."

I shivered.

"I'm assuming you're telling us this because you've thought of a solution?" Mikasa asked calmly, and the worn boy brightened slightly.

"Yes, I think so," he replied, eager and unsteady. "What we have to do is get some sort of farming program started- and for now, we should keep it to ourselves."

"Where?" I asked curiously. "There aren't any fields inside the Walls."

"The floorboards on some of the older houses, like the ones in this neighborhood, should be easy to pull up," he explained. "We can use the houses nearest to us so they're easy to protect, and open holes in the roof to let sun and rain in."

"Shall we start with two houses' worth?" Armin's grandfather asked, and the blonde boy nodded eagerly.

"I would think so. We can't overextend ourselves right now; it's hard enough to defend what little territory we have."

Mikasa glanced at me; we reached a silent consensus, by eye-contact, to keep Jones' threat to ourselves. Armin had enough to worry about; enough weight rested on his frail shoulders. We could deal with the Street Rats on our own if it came to a head.

"We also need to secure a horse or two, as soon as possible," the blonde continued, oblivious. "People still see their value as beasts of burden, but soon they'll all be killed for meat."

"What use would we have for horses?" I asked, confused; Armin cleared his throat nervously.

"If we want to survive long term- and I mean really long term, as in years down the road -we'll need to venture outside the Walls once or twice, at least. Horses are the only safe way to do that. But once they're gone inside the Walls, that's that- we're truly trapped."

My jaw dropped. "Outside the Walls? Armin, you're crazy!"

My blonde friend, despite his crippling weakness, glared back at me. "Am I, Eren? Think it through; in a year or so, easily half the population will be dead (more than that, if you take into account the percentage already dead). There are necessary resources that are only available Outside- livestock is one of my specific concerns, seeing as what little was kept in Shiganshina itself has already been slaughtered. If we want to survive, we need to let this city die around us, and then resurrect it as a completely self-sufficient entity; to do that, we need access to the farms outside the Walls."

"That's crazy!" I repeated. "'Let the city die around us?!' Armin, do you have any idea how many lives you're just... writing off?!"

"Regrettably, I do," the small boy replied, his voice quavering. "But I also know that sacrifice is necessary for change to occur- and change is going to occur whether we want it or not."

"Armin is just trying ensure our survival," Mikasa told me gently, laying a hand on my shoulder. "And I think his approach is the right one."

"Crazy...!" I grumbled once more, but then asked reluctantly, "Alright, so a horse or two. Where do you suggest we get these horses? They're valuable- they _were_ insanely valuable, even before the Fall."

Armin shifted nervously. "The Deserters have amassed a small herd; they would be the easiest target."

"'Easiest... target?'" I repeated in shock. "Armin, are you even hearing yourself?!"

"We have to survive!" my blonde friend insisted. "We have to... and to survive, we have to take risks and make sacrifices!"

"... The Street Rats have a pair of horses," Mikasa said softly, startling us all. "I don't know how they managed it, but they have at least two. If we took their territory..."

"Don't sink to their level, Mikasa!" I snapped, beginning to panic slightly.

"Such is the world we now live in, Eren," the girl replied sternly. "I will not let us die for your ideals. I choose to trust Armin's theories; they've never let us down."

"B-But..." I tried again, although I knew I was on the losing side of the argument, "wouldn't it be better to try to get the whole district in on it? Those who've survived, I mean?"

"Hannes tried to unite this district," Mom whispered, and then curled up tighter in her chair. "Look what happened to him."

"So it's decided," Mikasa said, and I glanced at her with sick imploring. "We'll launch an attack on the Street Rats tomorrow; we'll take their horses, and all the supplies we can get our hands on. If we gain some of their land in the bargain, all the better." Then she looked straight at me, her eyes piercing and cold. "You and I must bear the brunt of the work, Eren; we can't afford to have you second-guessing it."

I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Then, I looked down. I knew it was necessary; I knew it was the only chance, long shot through it was, that we had at survival. I looked at Armin, so heartrendingly frail and yet stronger than me, in his willingness to do what it took; I looked at my mother, depending upon me.

_"Grow stronger."_

_This wasn't what I had hoped to use my strength for, Hannes. _

"Alright. I'll do it."

... ... ...

Armin brought up food from the basement that night; we all left the allocation of resources entirely up to him, even if it meant we didn't eat every day. That night he brought up a full meal for both of us, as well as a typical set of rations for Mom and his Grandfather. I had mixed feelings about eating what was, in those days, such a lot of food, but Mikasa saw the sense.

"We won't be able to afford weakness tomorrow," she said, and then shoved a piece of bread into my mouth. "Eat and gather your strength."

Armin didn't eat; he hadn't in god knew how many days. After I had finished, my stomach aching with the food, I caught him chewing on the bone I had left on my plate; it wasn't the first time I had seen him eating- or trying to eat -something that shouldn't have been fit for consumption. It was pathetic how much he thought he was worth, compared to us, when it was actually him that had kept us alive all this time.

I lay down beside Mikasa with mixed feelings; part of me knew that I should sleep, but my mind wouldn't shut up. I cuddled into my sister, pressing my back into her stomach; when Armin joined us, after a few hours of planning and preparation for the next day's attack, I pulled his emaciated body to me until his face was buried in my chest. We lay like that, huddled together on the thin mattress; soon both of my companions had fallen asleep, but I remained wide awake, staring into Armin's straw-like hair and remembering when it had been soft and golden.

_No matter what I have to do, I'll protect you both..._ I vowed silently, tightening my grip slightly on his small body. _... No matter who I have to kill. _

But even in that instant, I doubted myself- I doubted my strength, if not my resolve.

A whisper of sound caught my ear suddenly, and I stiffened beneath the blanket. Armin stirred, but didn't wake; Mikasa was still behind me. I lifted my head slowly, careful not to wake either of my companions; after a moment, however, that proved pointless.

"What?" Mikasa whispered, and I shrugged.

"I heard a noise from downstairs. I don't think it's anything to be worried about."

"Never assume," the girl replied, rising fluidly and picking up the knife she always slept with. I got up as well, tucking the blankets tighter around Armin as I did so.

"You think...?"

"I don't think anything," she informed me. "But there's simply no way to know, and we can't be too careful. Stay close to me, if you insist upon coming."

I did just that as she led the way down the stairs; we were halfway down when we heard the whispered voices, and it became horrifyingly clear that this was no false alarm.

"... no guard." That was the voice of Vincent- a Street Rat, and several years older than us. "How stupid can they be?"

"They're only kids," Jones' voice objected, "and there are only three of them."

"Guys, I found the adults' room!" called a third boy, Gustav, and I felt every muscle in my body stiffen. Mikasa edged forward, a firm hand on my shoulder to keep me from rushing past her.

There was the soft tramp of feet, then; this invasion was clearly more than just the three boys we had been able to identify by voice. Mikasa ghosted along the hall with me on her heals; we reached the kitchen just in time to see a shape vanish down the hallway, toward Mom's room.

I felt a sudden jolt of panic stop my heart; ignoring Mikasa's cry of protest, I shot forward, willing myself to be in time. I skidded into the room just as the lights flashed on; momentarily blinded, I back peddled; slipped; crashed to the ground with a soft splash.

_Splash._

My whole being trembling, I looked down; stared in open-mouthed horror at the sticky red puddle I had landed in, flowing out from farther inside the room. Tears were spilling down my face as I looked up slowly; saw the Street Rats, frozen in surprise; saw the body of Armin's grandfather, sprawled limp on the ground; saw my mother.

"Mom!"

"Eren!" she shrieked, kicking out against the pair of children who held her. "Take Mikasa and run! Get out of here!"

Face twisting with rage, I charged forward with a roar; apparently overcoming their surprise, two of the older children came to intercept me; each grabbed one of my shoulders, holding me up off the ground as I screamed and flailed. I could see Vincent, blade poised over my mother's throat; Jones, wide eyes locked on me in something like pity; Mom, screaming at me to run.

Then, the boy on my left went limp; the one on my right faltered, suddenly supporting my whole weight, and my feet found the ground once again. As Mikasa pulled her blade from the fallen boy's side, I turned and punched the remaining one; heard a satisfying _crack_ as blood spewed out from his nose, and he fell back. Without thinking, I flung myself toward Vincent; toward Mom.

The knife came down; her blood splattered across my face. Her screams ended in a sick gurgling; her body went limp.

And my vision went red.

"Pity about that, but it had to be done," Vincent said, but his voice was distorted in my ears. "Now, Eren, Mikasa, I hope you two will reconsider-"

He didn't get any farther; surging forward in a sudden and violent motion, I grabbed his wrist; twisted the blade in his hand so that it was buried up to the hilt in his own stomach. Mikasa screamed my name, but I had gone deaf; the Street Rats all took a collective step back as their leader fell, dead at my feet, his knife remaining in my hand.

"I'll... kill you...!" I gasped out, feeling my whole body shudder with the force of my conviction; my gaze kept flickering to my mother's dead eyes, her face twisted with her dying screams, and then back up to her killers. "I'll kill you... I'll kill you all!"

And that was the last thing I remembered until I woke with the dawn, sobbing in Mikasa's arms, the bodies of a dozen or so boys scattered around me and their blood soaking me through to the very bone.


	2. The Death of a Mad Scientist

"One hundred... and eighty six," I whispered, running my hands along the tallies. "Has it really been half a year...?" I knew that my count was correct, but it seemed impossible. Perhaps I was already dead, and my ghost was just so attached to this wall that I hadn't even realized it. I had gone into cardiac arrest twice already- what if, one of those times, Eren or Mikasa hadn't gotten to me in time?

"Armin." Mikasa's voice was gentle, and I turned at the sound of my name. My friend stood in the doorway, hunched so that half her face was hidden by her scarf. She had cut her hair in a lopsided bob a week or two back, annoyed at how it got in the way, and I still hadn't gotten used to how it looked. "I'm going out on patrol; you should come."

I shook my head, the motion making me slightly dizzy. "I'll stay and watch over the house."

"That's nonsense," she said, firmly but not unkindly. "When was the last time you were outside? I'm sure things have changed since then."

With a reluctant smile, I nodded and rose. "Alright... just for a while, though," I added. "I'm trying to work out the problem of a sustainable population equation. I need to figure it out."

"Of course," Mikasa said, although I knew she didn't have the first clue as to what I was talking about. I was at a loss as to why she and Eren trusted me so unconditionally, when they couldn't even grasp most of what I was puzzling over; half the time, I was certain that_ I _didn't entirely grasp what I was puzzling over. But they still followed what I said to do to the letter, and we had managed to survive as of yet.

Mikasa led me out the attic window; the front door was barricaded, and it was easier to travel above street-level anyway. Territories were largely a thing of the past, although we still maintained a loosely defined one; there were now huge patches of land popping up where the survivors were trying to start farming.

We had already begun to farm, months before it became a popular thing to do. People didn't know about our little farms, of course; we were still children, some of the only easy targets left, and did everything we could to stay off the radar of the larger packs. Two such packs had survived, along with a smattering of rogues like us. It was fairly obvious that one would, eventually, kill off the other; I was of the opinion, however, that it would be the little groups of three of four people, like ours, that would be the ones to outlast everyone else.

Now it was purely a waiting game; whoever was left would have the opportunity to rebuild Shiganshina around them. And I was devoted to making sure that those survivors would be us.

Well over half of the original population of Shiganshina had perished; of the original 2,000-some people, a mere 700 or so remained. Most had starved, although many had been victims of violence, and I predicted that the second wave of the die-off was about to begin. People had begun to farm, but not quickly enough; there simply wasn't any more food to be had.

Our stores had run out a week or so back, but some of our crops were already mature; potatoes and carrots were hardly a balanced diet, but they kept us from starving. I had stopped feeling hunger a long while ago; it was no longer a matter of willpower for me to keep from eating, to save what little we had for Eren and Mikasa. It had been a battle at the beginning, but now I was able to simply forget that my body required food. I was a bit concerned about the repercussions of that, but it was a useful adaptation; hunger had only served to distract me from planning.

Eren was another matter, however; I had caught him staring at the two horses that lived in our living room more than once, but as of yet he hadn't given in and killed one. Those animals were probably the only ones left in the district, other than a population of wily feral cats that refused to be made into stew; if they were discovered, my long term plans would crumble, and what fragile hope I nursed for a future would be lost.

I followed Mikasa over the rooftops, relishing the fresh air and the chill wind on my face. We traveled out from my house in lazy spirals until we hit the Wall; Mikasa reached out, offering her arms, and I went to her, letting her carry me as she zipped up to the top with the use of the Maneuver Gear she wore.

A month or so back, Eren had come home grinning from ear to ear and with three sets of 3D Maneuver Gear in tow. He had taken them off the bodies of Garrison members; the blades had already been stolen, most likely by their killers, but the Gear itself had been deemed useless. Eren had excitedly suggested that we learn to use it, and Mikasa and I had agreed. Of the three of us, she had been the quickest to catch on by far; neither Eren nor I were yet good enough to risk using it in public, but Mikasa frequently wore hers out on patrol- used it apparently, I now discovered, to get atop the Walls.

"Completely surrounded," my friend murmured, gazing down at the hideous giants pawing at the Wall just below us. I shivered, inching closer to her as I watched them.

"Should we be up here, Mikasa?" I asked worriedly, and she shrugged.

"No one else ever comes up here; I usually do a complete circle around the district once a day."

I stayed close as she began to walk, unable to stop from staring out at the titan-infested land inside Wall Maria. I could see the remnants of farms, herds of cattle and fields scattered here and there. The mere thought of such things made my whole body ache with desire, and I knew that my plan would work, if we could only hold on for that long. Mikasa kept her eyes on the interior of the Walls as she patrolled, her priorities far more immediate than mine. I turned, as well; saw my crumbling home from a bird's eye view.

"We're lucky that an epidemic didn't break out," I commented, "with all the bodies."

"I suppose cannibalism does have some merits, cleaning up of the dead being one of them," Mikasa replied, and I winced. Quite a few people had turned to such measures; many had gone mad, before they began or as a result of eating their kin. I had caught Eren doing it once or twice, but hadn't stopped him; I was certain Mikasa knew about his habit of taking a bite or two out of the people he killed, but she, like me, let it slide for the time being. Disturbing through it was, we had bigger concerns- specifically about Eren, in some cases.

My friend seemed stable most days, but his anger- fueled by bitterness over his mother's death -was getting more and more unmanageable. It made sense; there was little to do all day except stew silently, since the three of us spent the majority of our time alone. But I was getting extremely worried about him. In addition to the mildly cannibalistic behavior he was expressing (which, sadly, wasn't unusual enough these days to cause alarm in and of itself), he had begun to actively look for excuses and opportunities to kill.

It was as if he blamed all of mankind, save for Mikasa and I, for the death of his mother. He would often mutter about "killing _them_ all" or "wiping _them_ out" or "cleansing the district of the filth." His dreams, too, were riddled with bloody visions, and he would sometimes grin and murmur things like, "Kill... more... kill _more_...!" and chuckle softly in his sleep. I was concerned for his sanity, if not for his very humanity.

"Armin!"

Mikasa's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I glanced over at her. Her eyes were wide, and I followed her gaze with some amount of apprehension. When I spotted what had drawn her attention, my mouth dropped open.

"Impossible...!"

A horse- and a horse_man_ - was galloping wildly towards us. There were two titans lumbering after him, terrifying in their lurching movements and slathering mouths. Mikasa instantly began to run and I, after a moment of shock, followed.

"Oi!" my friend wailed at the top of her lungs; the horseman looked up, raising his hand in acknowledgment. I wheezed as I fought to keep up, my muscles feeling weak; when had Mikasa's legs grown so long and powerful?

Before I could react, my friend had taken a wild dive off the wrong side of the Wall; I gave a strangled cry of alarm, but then watched breathlessly as she shot out a cable and _flew_ parallel the Wall. Keeping up with her was even more hopeless than it had been, but it was stunning to watch her sail through the air with all the graceful ease of a bird. The horseman was watching her, too; he lifted his hand as she dipped closer and closer, managing to get his feet under him on the saddle. As I myself closed the distance, much to the agony of my burning lungs and straining legs, I began to make out the mysterious horseman's face. The shock hit me all over again as I identified him; I couldn't, in fact, bring myself to believe it. It must be a trick, I thought, of my oxygen-starved brain and exhausted eyes.

Mikasa yelled something, inaudible at my distance, but the man responded to it. I couldn't bite back a strained wail of fear as my friend sailed closer and closer to the approaching titans; within inches of their snapping maws, or so my hyperactive imagination claimed. The horseman jumped; a hair's breadth off and he would have hit the ground and been instantly overtaken by the giants.

As it was, he looped one arm around Mikasa's waist and, although he was nearly twice her size, my friend didn't falter in her flight. The panicked horse, riderless, wheeled and twisted, galloping in the opposite direction as Mikasa flew back towards the Wall, horseman in tow. She gained altitude quickly- just quickly enough, as one of the titans took a swipe at them and missed by inches.

The moment my brain registered that she was safe, my heavy feet tangled hopelessly and I fell forward, flat on my face. Panting, groaning with exhaustion and pain, I pushed myself upright in time to see Mikasa pull herself and the horseman over the edge of the Wall. At such close quarters, it was impossible to pass off his identity as a trick of the mind; stumbling forward, I dropped down again beside both of them.

"D-Doctor Jaeger...!" I gasped in shock, and Mikasa crumpled into the man's arms. He held her to him, rubbing her back briskly, and rested his other hand on my shoulder.

"Mikasa, Armin...! You have no idea how relieved I am to find you two alive...!"

"So is Eren!" I told him in a rush, foreseeing the question. "We're all alright, Doctor Jaeger! Well, not alright, per say, but..."

"And Carla?" he asked, cutting off the flow of my words. "What of my wife?"

I stalled; I had forgotten, for a moment, about the poor woman. My face told Eren's father what he wanted to know, and he spared me from actually saying it, looking down.

"My poor Carla... well, perhaps it's for the best..." he murmured. "This world would have been too cruel for her to survive in."

Momentarily shocked by his seemingly heartless reaction, I watched as he rose, pulling Mikasa up with him. My friend, although perfectly silent, hadn't brought her face out of his chest the entire time. Seeing that I hadn't gotten up, he offered his hand; I pushed myself to my feet without his assistance.

"I need to see Eren right away. Would you two take me to him?"

Mikasa looked up for the first time; nodded. "Of course." Then, keeping hold of one of Doctor Jaeger's hands, she led the way to the edge of the Wall; first she lowered Doctor Jaeger with her Maneuver Gear, and then returned for me.

"How did he make it back alive?" I whispered, during the precious moments we had alone. "Mikasa, it's fabulous that he's back, but..."

"Don't question things like that." Her voice left no room for argument. "He's back; that's all that matters."

I still held onto my doubts, though; Doctor Jaeger looked to be in all-too-good condition, and he was terribly calm about his wife's death. And, while it might seem normal that he wanted to see his son right away, he hadn't appeared too emotional or even eager when he had said as much. There were alarm bells going off in every corner of my mind, but it was obvious that Mikasa was in no mood to be receptive. So I kept my thoughts to myself as she led him by the hand through our wasted district, cheerfully taking him straight to the heart of the territory we would have protected with our lives.

If it had been a long time since I had ventured out over the rooftops, it had been even longer since I had walked along the ground. The bones were enough to render me a trembling wreck with fear, and I could feel dozens of eyes on us as we walked. I knew that appearances were everything, though, if we didn't want to get attacked right there in those shadowy alleys, so I forced myself to keep my head up; since Mikasa was preoccupied with Doctor Jaeger, it fell to me to meet each set of hostile eyes, trying and probably failing to give off "just try it, I dare you," vibes.

Once we reached our territory, Mikasa began cheerfully disclosing our most valuable secrets. "We've set up small farms in those houses," she said softly, keeping her head enough to speak quietly, at least, "and that one over there. Armin's house is our base; all our supplies are stored in the basement. We have to enter through the roof, though."

"And our old house?" the older man asked, sounding more concerned than when he had asked after his wife.

"It's well within our territory, too," Mikasa informed him casually. "Our territory extends all the down this street to the Wall, and to the canal on the other side."

"Ah... oh yes, I see, that's good." He seemed disinterested past knowing that his old house was safe; I tucked away his reaction for further examination.

"We can't tell when Eren will be back," I said suddenly, wanting to gauge his reaction. "He's out on patrol, and we have no way to contact him."

"Well, we'll just have to go looking for him if it gets too late, then," Eren's father replied with a smile; I felt my suspicions rise, but forced my eyes to stay wide and innocent.

"It's dangerous to go out after dark," I said earnestly, watching our guest carefully. "It isn't uncommon for Eren to stay out the night, though, if he finds a safe spot."

"Well, we'll just have to go looking for him _before_ dark, then." There was an edge I didn't like in the man's voice- and it wasn't concern for his son.

"Armin!" Mikasa chastised me, and I winced. "What's gotten into you? Of course we'll go find Eren, as soon as we take Doctor Jaeger back to the base! He'll want to know that his father is back!"

I bit back a testy retort; if she was going to be oblivious, I wished she would at least refrain from interfering with my questions. But I stayed silent for the rest of the trip, keeping a careful eye on Doctor Jaeger as we walked. Mikasa took him up to the roof with her 3D Maneuver Gear, more or less leaving me to find my own way up. Both annoyed and concerned, I pulled myself hand-over-hand up the wall, managing to get onto the roof just in time to see them vanish into the attic.

"W-Wait up!" I called, not wanting to be left alone _or_ leave Mikasa alone with that man- whom _I_ in no way trusted. I scrambled inside, catching up with the two of them as they descended into the main house.

"We've set up traps to warn us of intruders," Mikasa was explaining, referring to the traps I had almost fallen pray to, in my haste to catch up. Keeping a mental tally of the secrets that had been disclosed as of yet, I bit my tongue until it bled. "I put some soup on to cook this morning; it's just potatoes and carrots in broth, but if you'd like..."

I couldn't stay silent; against my better sense, I simply couldn't. "We can't afford another mouth to feed!" I objected, sounding more petulant than I had intended. "Mikasa, you know we can't!"

My friend rounded on me and I winced, but Doctor Jaeger put a hand on Mikasa's shoulder before she could strike me- much to my embarrassment, defended by the very man I was suggesting we let starve.

"I didn't come here to undermine your attempts at survival," he said, taking on a soothing tone that offended me at the deepest possible level. "In fact, I'm here to supplement them. You needn't worry about me eating your precious food, Armin, at least not without giving you something in return."

I was suitably convinced he was mocking me; mocking _us_, in our struggle to survive. And I _still_ didn't trust his motives.

But I fell silent again; Mikasa would blindly take his side, and I didn't have the energy to fight them both. I could only hope, watching moodily as Mikasa showed our guest the rest of the house, that Eren would at least be open to my concerns, whenever he got back.

As luck would have it, my best friend returned earlier than usual; Mikasa had barely finished giving the "Grand Tour of Confidential Information and Our Life Stories" when he came rushing down the stairs. My first reaction was delighted relief, but any greeting I might have called out died in my throat when I saw what he was carrying. Mikasa turned, too, at the sound of his entrance.

"Eren," she began, "look who-!" but stalled suddenly, for the same reason I had.

_Of all times...! _I thought with a grimace. _Well, with any luck it'll _scare_ Doctor Jaeger off, although I doubt it... _

Eren was holding- and now trying to hide behind his back -a distinctly human arm; the blood smeared around his mouth made the limb's significance all too clear, as did the somewhat crazed look in my friend's swirling, blue-green eyes. He took a step back, laughing softly and only succeeding in revealing the blood all over his teeth.

"Dad!" he exclaimed, although paler than parchment. "How is this... I can't believe it!"

I tuned to our guest, intrigued to see how he would react; Mikasa was certainly as white as death itself, and I had a feeling I was, as well. But what really chilled me, more than Eren's suddenly blatant cannibalism, was his father's reaction.

Grisha Jaeger _didn't_ react, not even slightly. He simply came forward, grasped his son's free hand- the one _not_ hiding a disembodied human arm, which he had been engaged in eating a just moment before, behind his back -and pulled him into a short embrace.

"I'm so relieved to find you well, Eren. Now come; time is short."

"Wh-wha...?" Eren stammered, apparently as surprised- if not as suspicious -as I was. "D-Dad, what are you-?"

"There isn't time to explain!" the older man snapped suddenly, grabbing my friend by the wrist and pulling him forward. Mikasa gave a soft shriek of alarm and I, acting on instinct, rushed forward to intervene. I didn't have time to react before Grisha Jaeger's hand struck me in the jaw, knocking me backwards; I was vaguely aware of striking the wall, and then everything went black.

... ... ...

"Dad, what are you doing?! Dad, stop, please...! Dad, stop...!"

Eren's shrieks reached me as if through water: blearily; indistinct. I fought for consciousness, managing to force my blurry eyes open after a moment of concerted effort.

"Armin!" Mikasa's hiss was close to my ear, and I started. "Are you awake?"

"... Barely..." I replied, trying to blink the fog from my vision. "I can't... see, though... Eren... what's happening to Eren?" I would still hear his disjointed wailing, although the words were no longer intelligible.

"I don't know," my friend replied. "Doctor Jaeger brought all three of us back to Eren's old house, and then dragged us down into the basement. And you wouldn't be able to see anything, anyway; he took Eren into a closet and shut the door."

_The... basement...?_ Managing to twist my painfully stiff neck, I blinked until I could make out the girl sitting beside me; her legs were folded under her, hands and feet bound with thick rope. My limbs, I realized, were restrained as well, and I pulled futilely at them for a moment.

"It's no use," Mikasa informed me. I could see the marks of struggle all over her body- torn clothes and skin, tangled hair, and wicked rope burns around her ankles and wrists. "Although now that you're awake..."

Nodding, I wriggled forward and sunk my teeth into the rope around her wrists; I missed, nicking her skin and tasting blood, but she didn't flinch. The sounds of Eren's wailing and struggles drove me on, despite the pain shooting up through my jaws and the ache leftover from Grisha Jaeger's strike; it sounded as if his protests were growing weaker.

"Yes...!" I hissed, feeling the rope give, finally, between my teeth. Mikasa had instantly wrenched her hands free, tending first to her bound feet and then to my restraints.

That was when Eren fell silent.

Both of us froze, a thousand questions racing through my mind. But in the next instant, every question I could have possible asked was rendered useless as the basement exploded around us. A titan reared up in our midst with a space-and-time-shattering roar and Grisha Jaeger, his face a mask of panic, came barreling out of what was left of the closet. I was barely aware of being grabbed, Mikasa hoisted up over the scientist's shoulder and my limp body tucked up to his side.

"Eren...!" my friend wailed, although it was nearly drowned in the titan's roar. I couldn't even muster a sound; all I could do was stare in shock up at the giant who had materialized out of thin air. _A... titan... How...? How did it...? And _why_...?!_

The house itself was shattering, word splintering and stone cracking all around us; the steps under Grisha Jaeger's feet disintegrated and he stumbled, sending Mikasa and I skidding forward across the ground-level of the house. The titan was shaking its head as if disoriented, towering over us and what was left of the house; it was like nothing I'd ever seen, a 15 meter tall beast with glittering green eyes and a terrifying set of gnashing teeth, the skin that would have formed its lips apparently missing. I tried to get to my feet, only to find them still bound; I barely had time to panic before I was scooped up by Eren's father again and slung up over his shoulder.

"What did you _do_?!" Mikasa was shrieking, pounding furiously at the man that was carrying us. Her thrashing was so violent that, after a moment, Grisha Jaeger stumbled again and fell to his knees as Mikasa writhed free of his grip.

"We have to get out of here!" the man screamed at her, and I noticed for the first time that he had tears in his eyes. "I don't know what else to do! I brought you two along in hopes that it might be able help me control him, but that obviously isn't going to work! He won't recognize any of us; he'll eat us the first chance he gets, just like any other titan!"

"What did you do with Eren?!" Mikasa shrieked, apparently unconcerned with what Doctor Jaeger had just said. "Where is he?! Did you feed your own son to a titan, you... madman?!"

"No..." I was surprised to hear my own breathy voice, but the theory forming in my mind was impossible to ignore. The way that Grisha Jaeger had been talking... and behaving, even before that... "... Eren _is_ the titan..."

"What?!" Mikasa demanded, but Grisha gave a sigh as he staggered to his feet.

"At least one of you can keep your head," he muttered, stooping down and undoing my bonds. "There isn't time to explain it now, but you're right- that _is_ Eren. I had to bet that I could control him, and I lost the bet. Now he'll rampage, just like any normal titan, eating anyone he encounters."

"You saw that he wasn't stable!" I snapped, surprising myself with the fierceness of my accusation. "You did this even after you saw that he was _already_ exhibiting cannibalistic behavior?!"

"I had no choice!" Grisha retorted, looking as if he wanted to hit me again; if that meant I could just go to sleep and forget that this was happening, I didn't think I would mind. "I took great personal risk even getting here! But time was running out; we needed the Coordinate!"

I saw Mikasa approaching from the other side of him, lip drawn back over her teeth. "Turn him back," she snarled, and Grisha rounded on her.

"Don't you think I would if I could?!" he demanded. A sudden roar from the titan made him wince, and then he was running. "Follow me if you want to live!"

Without hesitation, I bolted after him; as much as I despised and distrusted the man at the moment, he clearly possessed the most knowledge about the current situation. On top of that, he had no compelling reason to want us dead; on the contrary, he had compromised his own escape from a rampaging titan to drag us along. Mikasa looked to me- asking what she should do.

"Come on!" I spared a breath to shout, and only then did the girl follow. My whole body was still aching from our adventure on the Wall that morning, though, and I knew instantly that both she and Grisha could outpace me in their sleep; I strained to keep up, unwilling to fall behind, and found that willpower was sufficient fuel for the moment.

I could hear the titan- Eren, I forced myself to acknowledge -roaring and wreaking havoc mere blocks behind us; people were screaming and fleeing in all directions, panic sweeping the whole district like a poison. But Grisha seemed to know where he was going- my house. He didn't bother climbing to the usual entrance, but instead rammed the front door with all his strength. The wood gave, cracking, and he struck it again. I glanced back, eyes fixed on the 15 meter titan he had knowingly released into our already ravaged district- also, my best friend.

"Why?!" I burst out suddenly, perhaps inappropriately; Grisha slammed his body against the door again, with Mikasa's added help.

"Now is not the time!" he snarled in reply, and then rammed the door once more; this time it splintered, the barricade behind giving out and allowing all three of us to rush in. The horses, though panicked, were easy enough to get a hold of, and Grisha hoisted me up onto the mare in front of Mikasa. "Follow me," he said again, swinging up onto the stallion. "We're going Outside the Walls."

"Outside?!" I repeated, my eyes bugging. With a sudden certainty, I snatched the reigns from Mikasa and wheeled the horse around, grabbing for and seizing the bridle of Grisha's horse. The man's eyes lit with fear and rage and he lashed out, chopping down on my wrist; although I winced, I didn't release my grip.

"This is _my_ district, _my_ home, and my _family_ that you have taken it into your mad skull to interfere with," I said, a sudden and icy confidence flooding through me. "No one goes anywhere until I get the facts. And we are _not_ leaving Eren to kill or be killed."

"You don't understand...!" Grisha spat, wrestling with my hand; he dug his nails into my skin, but I had stopped feeling anything at all in the limb.

"These are also _my_ horses," I said. "And it just so happens that you can't escape without one."

"You don't understand-!" Grisha repeated furiously. "We can't deal with him alone! We need to let him rampage- exhaust himself! Or the others-!"

The roof gave in suddenly; I hadn't realized that Eren was so close, but the huge foot crashing through our ceiling told me as much. The horses panicked, bucking, and I was tossed loose; still clinging to the bridal of Grisha Jaeger's mount, I half-dragged myself up onto its neck, Eren's roar shaking the very air around us. The spooked animal tried to bolt but was off-balance; it's hooves slipped out from under it and then all of us- Grisha, the horse, _and_ I -were falling. I felt several ribs crack as I hit the ground, and then the horse was on top of me, smashing a few more. Gasping in agony, I wriggled out from under the animal, hoping that _it_ wasn't hurt.

A quick glance around revealed the current situation: Mikasa was still mounted, although barely; Grisha was moaning in pain, trying to get up; the fallen horse, thankfully, seemed to have all four legs intact, although it was all but unridable in its panic. _Catch the horse,_ appeared as in instant priority in my mind; lurching forward, I grabbed for its reigns and dug my feet into the ground, trying to keep it from rearing.

Another roar from Eren set the house crumbling around us; the two horses shrieked in terror and I, realizing that it was certainly now or never, flung myself up and managed to scramble onto the creature's back. Grisha had gotten to his feet, although the blood gushing from his ear could not have been a good sign.

"Get on!" I shouted; although I felt shaky and sick, about to lose consciousness or my precarious seat any moment, I offered him my hand. He took it, his fingers, slick with blood, tangling with mine.

And then Eren was there. Those were his eyes, certainly; it was impossible to mistake their swirling, blue-green depths. But the glint of madness I saw when he was eating human flesh had intensified to a raging inferno of insanity, and the terrifying set of blood-stained teeth were far more preoccupying than his semi-familiar eyes.

"E-Eren...?"

The titan's huge hand closed around Grisha Jaeger's frail body; he made the kind of sound that only the dying can make, although it was cut short as Eren tightened his grip. Blood burst from the older man's mouth as the titan lifted him up, up...

"Stop it, Eren, stop!" I wailed, desperate to keep the mad scientist of Shiganshina alive for just a little while longer- I would happily let Eren eat him, but there were questions that still needed answers. And so, without thinking, I leaped up; off the horse and onto the titan's fingers, clinging there and scrabbling desperately for a solid hold.

"Armin!" I heard Mikasa shriek, and there was a sudden whir of the 3D Maneuver Gear that she was still wearing. All I could feel was Eren's titan-hot flesh pressed to me; all I could hear was his enraged growling. But none of that mattered; what mattered was freeing Grisha Jaeger, provided he was still alive.

Scrambling up, I was undeniably relieved to see Eren's father still gasping for breath- undeniably dying, but not dead yet. Using the only weapon I could think of, I sunk my teeth into Eren's hand; steam hissed up around my face from the wound, searing my tongue and lips and making me whimper with agony. It worked, however, and then both Grisha and I were falling again. We hit the ground simultaneously, I with a wail and he with a whimper; then, vaguely aware of Mikasa engaging Eren in the background, I crawled to his side, finding myself unable to get completely to my feet.

"Tell me what you know!" I gasped out, once I had reached him; my words were slurred because of the burns on my tongue and mouth. "You... demon, tell me what you know before you go to hell!"

He only shook his head; I, half delirious with pain, grabbed his collar and shook him, although that only provoked a blood-laden cough.

"You're going to die anyway...!" I pleaded, trying to make him see reason. "You're going to _die_...! But others don't have to! Tell me what you did to Eren, and maybe I can stop it!"

"You were..." he wheezed, "... always the smart one. But there is... no way... to force the transformation to undo itself."

"You would _not_ have turned Eren into a titan if there as no way to turn him back!" I insisted. "Regardless of whether or not you thought you could control him, it doesn't make any-!" _sense!_ "Eren can undo it...!"

"_If_ he was conscious, he _might_ be able to..." Grisha breathed, his eyes beginning to glaze over. "That's... what I... was betting."

"Well you lost your bet!" I snapped, my full attention back on the dying man. "Now help me win mine! How does the transformation occur, how?!"

Grisha was smiling slightly, now. "The... Coordinate... ... Plan... failed. Tell... the others..."

I was certain the words weren't for me; Grisha Jaeger was no longer talking to me. "What others?!" I demanded, risking shaking him again. "Doctor Jaeger!"

"The neck, the neck..." he sang softly, blood beginning to drip from his closed eyes like tears. "... Crystallize...!"

"The neck..." I repeated softly. "Crystallize...?" _The neck... the... neck..._ "Titans'... weak spots!" I realized suddenly, remembering what I had read long ago. "The back of the neck!" Returning my attention to the dying man, I shook him again; there were still so many missing pieces. "What others?!" I repeated, though he didn't respond. "Why turn Eren into a titan? Why, just answer me why!"

His eyes opened, just slightly- I saw in their depths that he was still sane, in that instant, or as sane as he had ever been; he knew who I was and what I was asking; he knew the answer.

"They'll come looking..." he whispered, "for the Coordinate. And then... you'll all be... titan food."

With that maddening riddle, Grisha Jaeger died under me, his blood soaking into every pour on my skin. With a shriek that was half anger and half frustration, I struggled to my feet and took stock of the situation.

Mikasa was flying around Eren's head, her 3D Maneuver Gear keeping her just out of his reach. I could see both the horses, much to my relief, cowering in what was left of our kitchen, the pot of soup that Mikasa had been making capsized. Our roof was gone, the upper floor and attic ripped away by Eren's movements as he attempted to catch the human girl he didn't recognize.

"Mikasa!" I yelled up, agony tearing through my burned throat as I raised my voice. She glanced down, and I scrambled up onto what was left of our table in an attempt to make myself better heard. "Eren himself can undo the transformation, if we can get him conscious! His weak spot is the same as any other titan's- the 1 meter by 10 centimeter strip on the back of his neck! If you carve that spot out," I added, in case she didn't know, "it'll probably kill him! But a stab to it might be painful enough to snap him out of this rampage!"

"You're willing to risk that?!" the girl shrieked back, just as Eren took a swipe at her; she narrowly avoided him.

"Do we have a choice?!" I yelled up; she, looking reluctant, shook her head.

But then Eren's eyes were on me. I felt as much as saw him coming towards me, massive hand outstretched; his roar drowned my scream as I flung myself to the side, narrowly avoiding him. But that didn't stop him; reaching forward, he grabbed the _body_ that lay behind me- the body of Grisha Jaeger.

"Eren, don't!" I heard Mikasa shriek. But the subsequent _crunch_ told me that her plea hand gone unheard, and a small shower of blood splattered down on me a heartbeat later.

"It doesn't matter!" I shouted up. "He was already dead!" _Eren had already killed him,_ I acknowledged grimly, though that was the last thing Mikasa needed to hear. "Just focus on that vital spot!"

I dragged myself out of the mud in time to see my friend land, with laudable grace, on the back of Eren's neck. I watched as she took careful aim, positioning her knife directly over the center of his neck, where a human's spine would be.

_Please let this work...!_ I begged, my bones shaken by another of Eren's roars. _We'll have to kill you if this doesn't work...!_

Mikasa's blade flew downward; I watched as it traveled, true to her aim, until Eren lurched suddenly beneath her. Her blade jerked to the side, sinking into the titan's flesh but missing her exact target.

That _didn't_ seem to matter. Eren's roar turned high-pitched with pain as he thrashed, Mikasa barely managing to hang on even with the use of her Gear. But I could hear her, frantically shouting Eren's name, begging him to wake up.

"Eren!" I lent my damaged voice to the effort. "Eren, it's me, Armin! Weren't we going to see the outside world together?! Didn't you promise we'd see the ocean together, Eren?!"

The titan's legs folded abruptly under him; I shrieked and dove out of the way as he wrecked what was left of our house, as well as half of the one next door. But he seemed to be calming, if slightly- blinking, like a human might when coming out of a deep sleep. His roar petered out into a tremulous, questioning wail, and I knew instantly that he had returned to himself. Ignoring the flares of agony all over my body, I ran to him; climbed up onto his leg, and then onto his blood-soaked palm, letting him lift me up to eye-level.

"Eren!" I gasped out. "You can hear me, right? You can understand me?!"

The giant creature gave an almost whimpering rumble, his eyes panic-stricken as he gazed at me. Instantly Mikasa was beside me, her weapon steaming with titan blood.

"Eren?!" The titan nodded, and her legs gave out with relief. "Of thank god...!" she cried, burying her face in her hands for a moment.

"Your father said that you could undo the transformation!" I said hurriedly, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the rest of the district appeared, wielding swords and fire and any other weapons they could get their hands on. "D-Do you have any idea how to?"

Eren, his eyes huge, shook his head; my heart dropped, even though I had been expecting the answer. Muttering an apology, I gathered what was left of my flagging strength and climbed up his nose; his hair made the next part of my trek easy enough, and then I slid down until I was perched on the nape of his neck.

"Does this hurt?" I asked, prodding gently at the spot that Mikasa had stabbed; I received a rumble in reply and, not being able to see his eyes, couldn't make sense of it. "Eren... can you take a bit of pain for the sake of a hunch of mine?"

This time there was a distinct nod from my best friend; what was he going to answer, really, unless he wanted to be stuck as a titan for the rest of his very short life? "Thanks. Mikasa, could you pass me your knife?"

"What for?" the girl asked mistrustfully, and I shot her a disbelieving look. Sighing, she tossed me the weapon.

"Thanks."

She nodded, and then crouched down, getting a deliberately good grip on Eren's hand. Taking a deep breath and reminding myself that time was of the essence, I slipped the blade into the titan's superheated skin.

Eren let out a comparably soft roar of pain, and I nearly lost my grip. But I forced my hands to stay steady as I cut slowly, carefully, through the first layer of skin. After I had made a sizable hole, I held the knife in my teeth and used my hands to dig through the adipose and muscle tissue; it might have been slightly more painful for us both but, if I was right, I didn't want to risk using the knife.

Eren gave a strangled roar as I felt my hand break into what felt like a small hollow inside the titan's neck; pulling apart the tissues surrounding it, it wasn't long until I could peer inside and, low and behold, saw exactly what I had expected.

"Mikasa! Mikasa, come help me!"

Instantly the girl was by my side, although it left Eren whimpering; I could feel the skin on my hand starting to blister from being inside the hot cavern at the back of the titan's neck, but I didn't dare remove it for fear of the wound healing over. When Mikasa crouched over my shoulder, I forced my arm to the side slightly so that she could peer into the hole. Her eyes widened sharply, and for a moment I though she was either going to fall backwards in surprise or throw herself forward.

"... Eren...!"

"His real body!" I confirmed excitedly. "You've got to help me cut him out!"

With the two of us working together, we had soon exposed a fair amount of our friend's body; as we did so, the titan's head began to nod as if it were losing consciousness, and Eren's human body began to twitch as he woke. Suddenly, then, he was shrieking and writhing, tearing himself free of the steaming flesh and releasing a rush of heat that scalded both Mikasa and I. Gasping, wide-eyed and panicked, Eren grasped at the edges of the hole; together, we helped pull him the rest of the way out. I could feel him shaking, his eyes rolling like a terrified animal's as he came back to himself.

"Armin... Mikasa...!" he gasped out, tears rolling down his face. I noted with relief that, for all the psychological trauma the episode may have caused, he seemed unharmed physically save for a few burns around his eyes and arms that were fading before my very eyes.

The titan's body, predictably, began to disintegrate as soon as we pulled Eren entirely free; Mikasa flew us safely to the ground with her 3D Maneuver Gear before we fell, thankfully. I was shaking so hard, by that time, that I could hardly stand upright, injuries notwithstanding; Eren lent me his shoulder. But the fact of the matter was, there was still a lot of work to be done before nosy neighbors began to turn up.

"First... come the horses..." I wheezed, vaguely aware of blood dripping down my chin from my burned mouth and throat. "Then we have to... get down to the basement. We should try to get the horses into the basement."

Mikasa didn't question me, simply did as I said; although she was usually fairly receptive, I was especially grateful as I sagged against Eren. While she handled the horses, both of us ended up huddled together on the ground, somewhat numb and each taking comfort in the other's presence.

"Now what?" Mikasa asked, when she returned; I couldn't bare to lift my head from where it was resting on Eren's shoulder.

"The two... farmhouses. Were they damaged?"

"One was all but destroyed." I felt Eren give a soft sob of guilt. "The other is intact, though."

"It's not so bad..." I murmured, half to comfort Eren and half to inform Mikasa. "We need... to collect what we can salvage from the destroyed farmhouse." I started to push myself upright, but Mikasa motioned for me to stay down.

"I'll take care of it. You two just take care of each other until I get back."

With a murmur of gratitude, I let my body go limp again. I had stopped feeling pain quite a while ago- I had stopped feeling _anything_ quite a while ago, if the truth was to be told. Consciousness seemed a lot less solid than it should have, and time warped as I waited for Mikasa to return; it felt like mere moments had passed when she did, although the soil smeared across every inch of her body said differently. Then I _did_ force myself up, urging Eren to stand beside me.

"With any luck, _that_ will keep people away for a little while," I said, motioning to the steaming titan skeleton in the street. "But they'll show up soon enough, and we need to be ready for that." I turned to Eren, hating what I needed to ask him. "If you needed to, could you turn into a titan again?"

He gave me a look of supreme horror and disbelief, remaining silent; waiting for me to retract the question. But I couldn't, keeping my gaze level as I watched him. I could feel Mikasa's gaze boring into the back of my head, and knew that if I was anyone, anyone else at all, that I would have a dagger embedded in my back. But she still trusted me; Eren did, as well, and so eventually answered.

"I... know how to," he said reluctantly. "I... bite my hand, like this..." he began, lifting his hand to his mouth, "and... focus on something- a goal. Dad told me that."

I nodded briefly, thinking. "Alright... that gives us a few more options."

"'Options?'" Mikasa echoed disbelievingly; warily. "Armin, what are you talking about?"

I fidgeted, unsure of my plan; it was drastic, and I doubted Mikasa _or_ Eren would approve of it. But perhaps this curse was a blessing in disguise; perhaps...

"We'll be taking control of the district," I announced softly. "A bit earlier than I intended or anticipated, certainly, but... why waste the opportunity that that madman has presented us with? Mikasa, Eren... can I possibly ask you both to trust me, just this one last time?"


	3. The Expedition Gone Wrong

**(A/N) Aaaand chapter three~ probably my least favorite chapter of the whole fic, but entirely necessary nonetheless. Thanks to "Not so human" for reviewing the last chapter! It made my day~  
**

"Form an orderly line, now! I _will_ have order or heads _will_ roll!"

They really didn't respond without sufficiently harsh motivation. My black-coated stallion nickered uneasily at the proximity of the masses, but it had been a while since the last time I had been physically attacked, and I tried to calm the nervous animal.

Wheeling my mount around, I made my slow way along the uneven line. I noticed, of course, the telling lack of elderly persons or very young children; Armin was always fretting over the later, although heaven only knew why. Prancing up and down the line, I strained up to catch a glimpse of my blonde friend at its head. It wasn't as if I didn't trust Eren to look after him, or Armin to look after Eren... I just wished that I was close enough to look after them both myself.

"What's this about, Missy?" a greasy, middle-aged man asked me, shambling up to my horse and making a grab for the bridal. I lifted it clear of his reach, grateful that the horse was so tall; I was still a child, easily grabbed- if not easily held. He was the fifth person in as many minutes to ask, and I was in no mood.

"Monthly census," I replied tersely. "You should be used to it by now."

"But this bein' ruled by some green little whelp, I mean-" he began, but wisely stopped talking when the tip of my blade materialized at his throat.

"Get back in line," I ordered coldly. "Armin-sama cares about every life in this filthy district, but he also recognizes that sacrifices must be made."

Hands up, murmuring something resembling an apology, the man backed away; they had all seen me slice decenters' throats before, or heard rumors of it at the very least. Of course, the rate of rebellion had dropped rapidly as time went on, and as a result of more than my sword; the simple fact was, Armin's orders and edicts had all but halted the district's spiral toward ultimate extinction.

And then, of course, there was the matter of Eren.

Scanning the crowd once more, I wheeled my horse around and cantered up toward the head of the line, relieved when my two boys came into sight. Eren was scowling his usual dark scowl, eyes shifting mistrustfully from person to person; Armin was far calmer, deep in conversation with a scrawny woman dressed in once-colorful rags and occasionally scribbling down notes.

Four months had passed since Grisha Jaeger's reappearance and the revelation of Eren's titan powers. Armin had since, with our help, seized total control of every aspect of life in the district- that had always been his plan, he had admitted to us; the business of Grisha Jaeger and Eren's rampage had simply afforded him the chance to do it sooner than he had anticipated. I doubted anything went on in the district now without his knowledge, or ever had. The reintroduction of a civilized structure had, for a short time, intensified the chaos, but Armin had never wavered in his convictions; within a month, he had facilitated the dismantling of the two ruling gangs, the Deserters and the Wolf Pack, and managed to install his own brand of order.

Among other things, Eren had used his titan powers (one of the main things, admittedly, that had convinced people to follow the tiny blonde boy, Armin Arlert, was that he apparently had a titan on his side) to clear away a good half of the district, which was now used exclusively for farming. The impact had been immediate, at least on moral; people suddenly began to realize that there _was_ a way to survive, and that above all else had convinced them to swear allegiance to their unlikely king.

"Mikasa!"

I glanced over at his shout; turned my horse and trotted up as he dismissed the woman.

"Would you be willing to lead another expedition beyond the Walls this afternoon? Supplies are running dangerously low, especially the livestock." He grimaced. "People haven't been as careful as they should be."

I nodded; not everyone was as farsighted as my wise-beyond-his-years friend, and the cattle and other animals we had managed to retrieve on our first and only trip beyond the Walls had been disappearing at an alarming rate. There were plenty more, of course... Outside, in titan territory. As one of the only people proficient with 3D Maneuver Gear in the district, including former Garrison members who were either out of practice or had never been much good to begin with, the leading of such expeditions fell to me. Then there was the fact that I was one of the only two people Armin truly trusted; such a task could be entrusted to no one else.

"Of course; I'll gather a small patrol."

"Good; I'll make a list of things you should aim to bring back."

I didn't doubt that his list would be realistic; he knew what the district needed, but he also knew what we were capable of pulling off. As the line moved forward, I picked out people to take part in the expedition. Some of them had been a part of the first- already proved themselves worthy; I just liked the look of a few others. When I had selected a dozen able and willing recruits, I led them back toward Armin's old house.

Although the framework had been mangled and the upper floors torn away by Eren's first rampage, we still lived in the basement; it was as safe a place as any, nostalgic, and easily defendable. I glanced at the small wall, salvaged from the wreckage of Armin's old room, as I passed. The tallies were growing absurdly numerous, but he refused to abandon the practice of numbering the "Days Since the World Ended." I had long since lost count. Our old basement, surprisingly, had become a study of sorts for Armin. When he went there, it meant that he wanted to be alone; not even Eren and I were allowed to follow.

My mount was well-trained, and no longer balked and bucked when I urged him underground; my recruits stayed put, knowing that no one was allowed to enter our underground sanctuary- try, and you were certain to be caught in one of the many traps we had painstakingly set. It was a daily occurrence for all three of us to be out at once- we were hardly ever separated, in fact -so our base would have been undefended if it weren't for the traps.

It took me several careful minutes to disarm and pick my way around the various mechanisms, most of them Armin's design. But eventually I got through, leading my mount into the dark cavern where we had made our home. I lit a torch, greeted by the nickering of nervous horses as I did so. We looked after all the horses recovered on the first expedition, for safekeeping; they were, by far, the most valuable animals in the district, and would have likely been killed for meat if we didn't keep watch over them. As it was, only one had met such a grisly fate- at Eren's hands, actually.

We had caught him gnawing through the poor creature's throat, absolutely dripping with blood. Armin had lost his temper; I had never seen him so furious, actually striking Eren several times. I had eventually intervened, although it had earned me a slap from my irate blonde friend as well. I knew, however, that half his rage was actually concern in disguise; I couldn't suppress it, myself- frantic worry for my adopted brother and the state of his fragile humanity.

In his defense, that exact incident had taken place barely an hour after he had been in his titan form for two days straight. In his defense.

I bridled the rest of the horses, stringing them together with a lead reign, then mounted my own and led the lot of them above ground. I let my recruits chose their mounts as I reset the various traps, then swung up onto my own horse once again. I double-checked my 3D Maneuver Gear, attached the fresh canisters of gas I had grabbed, and then turned to face my rag-tag group of soldiers.

"Our main objective is, of course, supply and livestock retrieval," I informed them. "As some of you know, your primary task will be to gather said supplies and livestock, while Eren and I defend you. Do not attempt to engage any titans; do not stray outside the designated area; obey my commands without question. Do that and you will survive, fate willing."

I saw heads nodding in agreement, mainly my veterans; the newer recruits looked far more nervous and, in some cases, nauseous. But that wasn't my concern; their lives were their own responsibilities, from that point on. I wheeled my house and galloped back toward where the census was being held, my squad streaming out behind me as they followed. Most of the business had been concluded; Armin was conversing with the last couple present, although I could tell from Eren's posture that all was not entirely well. Signaling for my recruits to stay where they were, I dismounted and led my horse over on foot.

"... don't believe it!" the man was saying, although Armin was unresponsive. "I will not stand by and be fed such blatant lies!"

"I am not lying, sir," Armin replied; although his voice was calm, I could tell that he was just as on edge as Eren. He met my eyes briefly; gave a tiny shake of his head- he didn't want action taken against the man, not just yet.

"Honey, please...!" the woman was begging, pulling at her husband's arm. "Haven't things gotten better?"

"Not for our son!" the man retorted. "Not for your parents and not for mine! Not for our neighbors! Everyone is dead, and now everyone is going to die!"

"There have been casualties," Armin replied, his icy tone belying the way he trembled, "and there have been sacrifices. But that is why you two are still alive, and why I'll make sure that you stay that way."

"Bullshit!" the man shrieked, lunging suddenly at Armin despite his wife's wail of alarm. I moved forward, but was a millisecond too late to save his life as blood splattered across the ground.

"Don't speak to Armin-sama in that way." Eren's eyes were dark, his hand embedded up to the wrist in the poor waif's chest. "He's trying to save your life."

The woman's screaming intensified, and I sighed; Armin, too, groaned in irritation.

"Why did you do that, Eren? He wasn't even armed."

"He was attacking you," the other replied, unrepentant. "He was obviously mad."

"Any more mad than you?" our blonde friend asked tiredly, but then pushed himself to his feet with a sigh. "I do apologize, ma'm," he said formally, to the shivering and traumatized woman. "But I do think it may have been for the best- for the good of your own survival."

A last ditch attempt to calm her down; to save her life.

"Mu... Murderer...!" she gasped out, and then shrieked it, "Murderer!" and flung herself toward Eren. I wanted to look away, but forced myself not to; Armin did. There was a horrible crack; a strangled gasp from the woman.

"Don't... call me that," Eren whispered, his eyes swirling with rage. "You're the murderers, you!"

"Eren!" I pleaded, taking a step forward, but he rounded on me.

"If you had seen it, Mikasa, if you had seen it!" he snapped. "If you had seen what they did to Mom-!" He choked softly, tears gathering in his eyes as he turned back to the woman, screaming, "You're the murderers!"

"Eren!" I tried again, more desperately, but he was unresponsive. The woman's struggling had grown weak and frantic; Eren had no trouble finishing the job. I turned away; there was a squelching of flesh as the woman's head was torn brutally from her body, blood flying everywhere like a hot, sticky rain.

"Murderer," my adopted brother scoffed again, letting her body fall to the ground but keeping her head in one hand. He examined it; spat, as though he were still speaking to the woman, "I'm defending them! I'm defending them, like I couldn't defend Mom!"

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Armin said softly, and Eren rounded on him.

"What, defend you and Mikasa?"

"Be so quick to kill." Our blonde friend sounded ill.

"Eren, the expedition is ready," I spoke up quietly, and he turned; I looked up in time to see him lick at the blood the had spattered onto his lips.

"Okay," he replied simply, letting the head fall from his hand. It was always like that- the moment a new task appeared, he calmed. My adopted brother fell in beside me as I led the way back to the cluster of recruits; Armin followed, as well- it wouldn't do to leave him in the district alone, unprotected. Some of my patchwork squad noticed the blood that was still smeared across Eren's face and hands, flinching back, but most of them either didn't see it or chose to ignore it. I helped Armin up onto my horse in front of me; Eren swung up onto the extra mount I had brought.

"Did you get a chance to make up that list?" I asked Armin, and he nodded, handing me the notebook. I glanced briefly at it, then passed it back to my soldiers. "This is what we aim to obtain; doable?"

After receiving a few hesitant murmurs of affirmation, I wasted no more daylight, setting off at a steady clip. I could feel Armin's head nod against my chest as we rode; he was exhausted, I knew. But I also knew that falling asleep during an Expedition meant certain death, and glanced worriedly over at Eren. He had noticed, too; smiled reassuringly at me.

"I'll protect him, don't worry."

I returned the smile- the gentle Eren that I knew and loved had, for the moment, overcome the evil that was festering inside him. It was like that whenever it was just the three of us; other people triggered his rages, his violence, but not us; never us. And not for the first time, I wished it _was_ just us; I wished everyone else was dead and gone, just like Eren often did.

"Eren!" I called, and he nodded; leaping from his horse, he used his 3D Maneuverer Gear to scale the Wall. I halted the rest of my makeshift squad, waking Armin as I did so, and watched as my adopted brother reached the top of the Wall; dove off the other side. There was a fearsome bolt of lightning followed, a moment later, by a roar that shook the very air around us; Armin winced, although didn't move.

"Open the Gate as soon as you hear the second roar!" I called up to the ex-Garrison members who were already waiting for just that signal. It would mean that Eren had dispatched most of the nearby titans, making the exit more manageable for us and lowering the risk of letting a titan enter the district.

A few tenuous moments passed before the signal came; with a shout to my team, I led the charge out the gates as they opened. "Scatter!" I shouted. "Stay in teams of two or more, and begin supply retrieval!"

Eren was crouched near the Gate, breath coming in gasps and several titan corpses on the ground around him. I cantered up to him, seeing that one of his hands was smoking wildly as it regenerated.

"Take Armin?" I asked, and he nodded with a rumble. My blonde friend willing hopped off my horse and onto Eren's palm; he always road with Eren, considering the difficulties of navigating 3D Maneuver Gear with an extra body in tow. Once I verified that he was safely settled on Eren's ear, where he liked to perch, I wheeled my horse away and galloped into the surrounding farmland. I spotted a team of four of my veterans working together to gather up a herd of cattle; they knew exactly what to do. Some of the newer recruits were having a harder time of it: some chasing after chickens on foot and others trying in vein to gain access to abandoned farmhouses.

But they would pick it up soon enough- my job wasn't to instruct them, but to protect them. I could see two titans approaching from the North, and Eren's growling told me that he was busy on the Eastern flank of our little operation. Wasting no more time, I galloped out toward the oncoming threat, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that might indicate an Aberrant.

One of the huge beasts roared, picking up speed as soon as it saw me; the other kept shambling along at a normal pace, much to my relief. There were no trees or sufficiently tall buildings nearby, so Maneuver Gear usage would be tricky. With a cry, I launched myself up, shooting out one cable and attaching it to the running titan's shoulder. The beast bellowed in confusion as I flew easily up, lopping out the weak spot on the back of its neck.

Before it fell completely, I sprang off of it and used the momentum to fly forward; shooting out both my cables, I saw them both hit their targets: the other titan's eyes. It roared in apparent pain, tilting its head back and unwittingly pulling me closer; it was a simple matter to gouge through its neck, then, both killing and beheading it. I took a moment to appreciate my horse as he trotted up to meet me; accustomed to Eren, titans didn't scare the beautiful black stallion.

"If Eren ever tries to eat you," I murmured as I swung up onto the animal's back, "then I'll really have to have a word with him."

I should have been enrolled in military training that year; I was officially old enough to learn how to slay titans. As the thought entered my head, I nearly smiled. Slaying titans was a matter of necessity, and 3D Maneuver Gear was the only way to go about it. All three of us practiced tirelessly, but I especially had poured all I had into the independent training. If I wanted to protect Eren, I needed to be on-par with him in his titan form; even more powerful than he was in his titan form. So that I could always protect him.

The Gates were still open, I saw, as those four veterans headed several dozen cattle into the district- more than Armin had hoped for, I noted. Moments later they reemerged, galloping back out into the fields. Eren was on the other side of the formation, wrestling with a seven meter Common Titan. For a moment, I wanted to go and help him; I couldn't, however, not without leaving us exposed. I was relieved a moment later, though, when he dispatched the hideous creature, and I saw a flash of gold in his hair as Armin's popped up to watch the beast fall.

Things were going all-too-well for my comfort.

A scream split the air suddenly, and I looked over to see one of the new recruits, on the ground and shaking like a leaf, pointing toward the North. When I followed his gaze, I felt my breath catch.

"Eren! Aberrant!" I yelled, at the top of my lungs. Without free use of my Maneuver Gear, I didn't dare confront the thing; I knew my limits. I wasn't quite there yet- more powerful than Eren in his titan form. Wheeling my horse, I galloped to cover Eren's former position, praying that another Aberrant wouldn't appear before he had dealt with this one.

There were several things that defined the approaching titan, so clearly, as an Aberrant: for one thing, it was running in a very coordinated and deliberate fashion, as if headed straight for the district; for another, it looked far more human than most. The final clue was that it looked _female_, more so than any other titan I had seen, although I had not, admittedly, seen that many Aberrant. It unnerved me, to say the least, and I spun my mount so that I could watch the battle.

Eren threw a right-hook, a typical opening move for him. My eyes widened; I was certain that the Female Titan looked genuinely surprised before the fist struck it, sending it skidding across the turf.

Eren let out a bone-shaking roar, meant to intimidate; the female was picking itself up, shaking its head as if to dispel the punch. When it became obvious that it wasn't going to retreat, however, Eren surged forward with another roar, hands outstretched.

Then, with a fluid grace that I had never imagined a titan capable of, the female swept out its foot, knocking Eren's legs out from under him and snapping the right one clean off.

Panic and cold dread washing through me, I urged my horse forward, sweeping around the parimitar we had set up. "Grab what you can and retreat!" I yelled, as loudly as I could. "Get back inside the Walls, now! The Female Titan cannot be allowed to enter Shiganshina! Get back inside the Walls _now_!"

Instantly my makeshift squad was moving; I counted the horses as they passed me, relieved to see that every member of the expedition was accounted for. Then I spun around to face the battle again, my very bones going cold at what I saw.

Eren's leg hadn't entirely regenerated, but he had still managed to get up. He leaped forward as I watched, managing to get a grip on the female's arm before taking a brutal punch to the jaw. So forceful was the strike that it not only blew a hole in the side of his face, but also ripped off the female's arm that he was clinging to, flinging him to the side. I was close enough to see a small shape tossed loose as he fell, striking the turf and bouncing, tumbling across the ground for several yards before coming to a terrifyingly still stop.

"Armin!" I screamed, wheeling my horse and galloping towards his unmoving shape. "Armin!"

The Female Titan, for Fate only knew what reason, seemed to have the same idea. I heard Eren give a crippled roar as he lurched forward, grabbing onto the female's leg as it approached our fallen friend. He sunk his teeth into the exposed muscle that covered its whole body, drawing a torrent of steaming blood that splashed down around me as I closed the distance. Then the female wrenched itself free, loosing the greater portion of its leg in the process, and swiped out at me. With a cry of panic I reigned my mount in, making him rear back just in time to avoid the huge, grasping fingers. I briefly entertained the idea of switching to Maneuver Gear, but I would have no way of transporting Armin if I did so. And besides, I risked stranding myself if I dismounted on such flat terrain, unsuited to Maneuver Gear.

Eren's roar broke into my thoughts, and I watched in horror as the hand that had made a grab for me swept in a small arch, scooping up our blonde friend. The titan's smoking leg proved able to support its weight, a moment later, as it stood and faced Eren, this time holding Armin close to its chest.

"Coordinate..." For a moment, I couldn't believe what I was hearing; that comprehendible _words_ were emerging from the titan's lips amid a huge cloud of steam. "Come alone... or the boy... dies..."

_Coordinate...!_ That was what Eren's father had been babbling about- according to Armin, Grisha Jaeger's last words had been something about the 'others' coming looking for the 'Coordinate.'

_"And then you'll all be titan food." _

Acting on some deep-seated instinct, I leaped from my horse. In that instant, even as I watched him take a step forward on barely regenerated feet, I was certain of only one thing in the world, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

_I cannot let Eren go with her...! _

With a cry that was half-exertion and half-warning, I shot out one cable; the titan roared as the tip sunk deep into steaming flesh. Then, knowing that an inch off and I would kill him, I grazed my blades just lightly along the back of Eren's neck, opening the cavern that housed his human body with a rush of steam.

The female gave a shriek of surprise as I landed on Eren's back, diving into the scalding flesh to drag his human body free. I felt the titan body begin to falter as his human form began to writhe, seemingly fighting me. Blind, Eren swiped back at me; I took the hit. Within heartbeats he was free and we were both falling; trying to maintain my grip on the frantic and disoriented boy, I dug my feet into the titan's disintegrating back to slow our fall, skidding down in a controlled path. Then I leaped, twisting in the air to land squarely on my waiting horse's back.

_Fates, if Eren ever tries to eat this beautiful animal I'll flay him._

Then we were galloping back toward the district. "Close the Gate!" I screamed, hearing the Female Titan begin to give chase. "Close the Gate!"

Eren was beginning to regain his senses, draped across my lap; this meant that he was starting to struggle, too, not blindly but purposefully thrashing against me.

"Armin!" he screamed, managing to twist past me so that he could reach back toward the Female Titan. "Mikasa, she's got Armin! We can't leave Armin!"

"Protecting you is more important!" I snarled, but felt a stab of guilt a moment later. I had no idea what this business about the Coordinate was; had no idea if it was  
important to our survival at all. Yet Armin was the key to the survival of the whole district; our King.

Our friend.

The Gate slammed shut seconds after we skidded in amid a cloud of dust; I heard the Female Titan slam against the stone, heard its terrible shriek of rage. But what was much louder in my ears were Eren's furious, frustrated sobs; the half-hearted curses he was directing at me.

The loudest thing, however, was my own voice; my own thoughts as I realized, with a truly sick feeling, that I hadn't even paused to consider who was more important, Eren or Armin. The whole business with the Coordinate was nothing but an excuse; the fact was, I had just chosen between my friends' lives, without the slightest hesitation.

And, on top of it all, I hadn't even looked back, not once.


	4. The Three Feral Foundlings

**(A/N) My apologies for the wait! Life... got busy...  
**

**Ihadsomuchfunwiththischapter hnnnnnnnn**  
**I actually wish that I could've devoted more time to it. Even though it's... what? 7K words as it is? l'D **

**My apologies, as we've got some weird-ass time jumps coming. Looking at the work as a whole, I liked this order for the chapters the best. That said, this chapter was always supposed to be the fourth- and last -chapter of the work. After it became clear that that wasn't going to happen, I simply tweaked and lengthened it. ^^**

**A million and one thanks to bobbyneko, "Not so human," Kamil the Awesome, and NameMeLife for reviewing the last chapter! I'm going to try to type a few personal replies tonight, but I might not get to it. ^^;; Regardless, reviews mean the world to me! Thank you so much! **

* * *

"There! Head for the ruins of Shiganshina! We'll be able to rest and regroup there, provided the Wall is still intact!"

"And if the air isn't poisoned with death," I muttered, changing direction with my commander's order. Our formation had been torn ragged by the last group of titans we had run into; we had lost most of our horses and, much too far from Wall Rose to effectively order a retreat, we were desperate for any amount of cover we could find. But I wasn't enthusiastic about visiting Shiganshina, one of several districts that the monarchy had simply abandoned when Maria fell. We had come across one other such district so far; it had been hell, a graveyard that was so polluted by rotting corpses that the air had been unbreathable.

It hadn't been titans that killed those people; it had been humans.

"Corporal! Titan sighted!"

I twisted around mid-air, locating the creature that my squad-mate Petra had spotted. _Definitely an Aberrant,_ I knew instinctually, watching the rhythm of its movements. It was fairly close to the Walls of our destination, as well, and so I made an executive decision.

"I'll deal with it; back me," I called to my squad. It was too dangerous to leave a nearby Aberrant unattended, but I didn't need to explain my reasoning to my subordinates; they either knew it already or trusted me unconditionally- often both. Erwin gave me a nod as we peeled away from the rest of the formation, letting them circle around and check for other titans before we approached the Walls.

Signaling to my squad, I led us in a wide circle and approached the beast from the side, grateful for the surrounding forest. It was a comparably large titan, pushing the 15 meter classification; it's huge, revolting mouth looked capable of snapping every bone in a human body. I made sure we took our time approaching; one could never be too careful around Aberrants.

I made a motion, signaling wordlessly for my squad to hang back and spread out. "Rodger!" they chorused, and I felt a thrill of pride. Gliding away from my teammates, I felt the familiar and soothing pull of my Maneuver Gear's straps. With the ease of years upon years of practice, my eyes locked on the titan's neck, muscles automatically shifting mere millimeters as I sailed forward, confident of hitting my mark.

"Prepare yourself for death, monster!" My blades at the ready, I began to spin, faster, faster, closing, closing...

"Oof!"

The breath was forced from my lungs, a distinctly human cry of rage filling my ears as I was knocked from my rotation, feeling my cables twist and tangle as I flew off-balance. My hearing was distorted as I tried to regain my balance, but I distinctly heard a female voice, shrill with anger, inches from my head.

"I won't let you touch Eren!"

I hit a tree before I managed to recover, but at least it stopped my flight. Getting the balls of my feet under me, I sprang away from the trunk just as a dagger embedded itself in the wood where my head had been.

"Who are you?" I shouted into the forest. "Show yourself!"

A shape melted from the canopy above me; a small girl, equipped with full 3D Maneuver Gear. Her clothes were tattered, the long red scarf she wore fluttering in the breeze as she watched me. Her eyes looked dangerous; feral.

"Are you friend or foe of humanity?" I demanded, echoing the wording I had heard Erwin use on several occasions; kept the titan, not a fifty yards from us, in the corner of my vision.

"Neither," she replied simply, and then glanced over to where the creature was standing. "But I will not allow you to harm Eren."

"'Eren?'" I echoed, my face twisting slightly as I realized what she was saying. "You can't be talking about that _titan_, can you?"

The girl seemed to briefly realize how insane she sounded, but nodded anyway.

"Corporal!"

"Corporal, the titan-!"

I spun to see both Petra and Gunther rushing toward me through the trees, having broken their formation when I had failed to reappear; the titan had turned, gaze fixed on the girl and I. I felt my brows arch slightly as I locked eyes with it; Aberrant or not, there was something very unusual about it.

Then, before I could entirely make sense of _that_, something moved on the titan's head; a tiny blonde boy popped up from its virtual forest of hair, stretching up and straining forward to call, "Mikasa! What's going on?!"

The girl, Mikasa, didn't take her eyes off of me, but shouted, "It's alright, Armin; go back home with Eren." I was more than a bit surprised when the _titan_ shook its head with an audible rumble, nearly jarring the blonde boy free. It began to come toward us, despite girl's alarmed cry of, "Eren, no! Stay back!"

Suddenly, Eld and Olou were there, soaring up over the treetops and aiming for the Aberrant's neck. I felt a flare of pride; they were doing exactly the right thing. However, in this particular case...

"Eld! Olou! Stand down!"

_Again_ I was beyond proud as my two subordinates instantly broke off their attack, despite the confusion that was obvious on their faces. The titan, true to my predictions, spared them no more than a fleeting glance and warning growl, trotting until it came up beside the girl and I.

"Eren!" the girl said scoldingly, using her 3D Maneuver Gear to fly up, landing on its nose. The titan actually winced. "I told you to go back home! You almost got yourself killed!"

"But someone called off the attack, against his better judgment," I pointed out, fishing for a 'thank you' and getting roundly ignored.

"The bigger your head, the smaller your brain, I swear!" she continued to lecture the titan; a moment later that blonde boy reappeared, swinging down from the titan's huge, pointed ear. He also wore 3D Maneuver Gear, I could see, although it was missing its blades.

"We were worried about you, Mikasa!" he said, and the titan rumbled in apparent agreement. Their miniature squabble continued as Petra appeared beside me, her face pale with shock as she stared at the titan.

"Go fetch Hanji," I said before she had the opportunity to ask any questions, smirking slightly as I added, "She'll flay me alive if I let her miss this."

Nodding reluctantly, Petra flew off; the rest of my squad, at my signal, hung back, and I approached he strange trio alone.

"I'll repeat my question," I said loudly, catching all three of their attentions. "Are you friend or foe of humanity?"

"Considering we _are_ humans, I'd say friend," the blonde replied simply, and my eyebrows rose a fraction.

"And what about that?" I asked, nodding to the titan. The creature glowered at me, another surprise; in all my time killing titans, I had never seen one respond as if it really understood what I was saying.

"_Eren_ is human as well," the girl snapped, and I cocked my head.

"Oh? Sincere apologies if I don't believe a word of that bullshit."

"She shouldn't expect you to," the blonde boy said, glancing meaningfully at his companion. "Come back to the Walls with us; we'll prove it."

"Armin!" the girl objected, and the boy gave her a baleful look.

"They're the Survey Corps, Mikasa," he pointed out reasonably. "It was only a matter of time before they stumbled upon Shiganshina. We may as well be upfront with them, to avoid misunderstandings."

My suspicions were confirmed- the two of them were Shiganshina kids, although Fate knew how they were alive after all this time. They had likely scavenged the 3D Maneuver Gear off dead Garrison members, although the blades would have been harder to find. _And they must have taught themselves how to use it,_ I added. _They can't be more than 15 or 16, which would mean they were... 11 or 12 at the time of the Fall. Not quite old enough to be enrolled in military training programs._

The girl looked at me for a long moment; I stared back, intrigued but refusing to yield to her unusually strong will. At last she gave a sigh; nodded.

"Come on, then. We'll only take... two, though. You and someone else."

"Very well," I said, inclining my head slightly. The girl, Mikasa, knew the rules of the street- whichever gang was intruding on another's turf sacrificed the advantage of superior numbers. Refusing to comply would have been like announcing an invasion, something I wasn't ready to do.

"Uwwaaaaaah!"

I winced at the over-enthusiastic shout; turned in time to see Hanji sailing toward us, with a concerned Moblit on her tail. Her second in command managed to catch up right before they reached us, crashing into her and sending them both careening into a tree.

"S-Squad Leader! You mustn't rush into things!"

I was relieved to see Erwin approaching more slowly, and ignored Hanji in favor of greeting my commander. "Erwin. I think you'll be very interested in this."

"As interested as Hanji seems to be?" he asked, peering first at the seemingly tame titan standing several yards from us, then at the practically convulsive Hanji and Moblit, who was still holding her back. I scowled.

"Yes, but hopefully in a less obnoxious way."

... ... ...

Hanji was more than a bit distressed when told that Erwin and I alone would accompany the children and titan back to the Walls of Shiganshina. But Erwin didn't cave to her tantrum, thank Fate, and soon we were on our way. Once out of the woods, the girl dropped down from her Maneuver Gear and mounted a waiting horse, a black stallion that she greeted warmly. There was also a spare horse, so I soon found myself seated, a bit disgruntled, in front of Erwin as we rode toward the district.

"We won't be entering the district itself," Mikasa explained calmly, as we rode. "I won't have that. However, we can talk on top of the Walls; it's certainly safer than down here."

"And if we decide to enter the district anyway?" I asked.

"Then I'll kill you," was her simple response.

I respected her spirit, but that didn't mean it didn't irritate me. So I scowled, unconvinced.

"I'd like to see you try."

"You're Levi, right?" she asked suddenly, and I nodded. "'Humanity's Strongest?' Eren is quite enamored with you, or at least he used to be."

"A titan enamored with a titan-slayer," I said, slightly amused despite myself. "Well isn't that a twist. I suppose the beast would be flattered if I was the one to kill it, then?"

Mikasa didn't reply, but I noted the shift in her aura- the dark protectiveness of it. It was obvious to me that she would do anything, withstand any torture or death for the sake of the titan she called Eren. And, although it confused me that the object of such feelings was a titan, I recognized the feelings themselves.

_She's part- if not leader -of a gang... someone who's lived on the streets and battled for daily survival. And she knows what it means to look after valued comrades. _

We reached the Wall after a surprisingly short ride; the titan was still keeping pace with us, but pulled up alongside the Wall and rumbled questioningly. A moment later, the blonde boy joined us on the ground; the girl dismounted to greet him.

"Are you sure about this, Armin?" the girl questioned him, with a mistrustful glance at Erwin and I. "Having Eren reveal himself like this?"

"It's the only logical path," the blonde replied, seeming comparably at ease. "And the Survey Corps are trained to kill titans, not humans."

"We can if we need to, Mushroom Head," I felt the need to mutter, and the blonde turned to me.

"My name is Armin- Armin Arlert."

"Don't you dare show that sort of disrespect, Runt!" the girl spat at me, seeming angrier at the nickname than the actual threat. My eyebrows arched.

"Fine, fine," I said, dismounting and glancing back at Erwin. He was letting me do the talking, I realized; analyzing the kids' reactions in silence. _Fine, Erwin... if that's how you want to play it, I'll go along. _"So what do you mean, 'reveal himself?'"

"Eren!" the Arlert boy called up suddenly, and the titan rumbled. "Go ahead and undo it!"

The titan nodded, then sat down abruptly with a _thud_ that nearly knocked me off balance. I didn't take my gaze off the creature as it began suddenly to twitch, eyes rolling back in its head and mouth opening slightly. Then it reached up with one hand; groped at the target on the back of its neck. I watched in amazement as its nails sunk into its own flesh, and it peeled back a layer of skin right over the vital point. There was a tremendous rush of steam, characteristic of any titan wound, and I noticed the blonde boy smiling approvingly.

"He's getting better at this," he commented to the girl, probably not for me to hear. "Last time he was spasming so hard that he shook me clean off."

"He's only been in titan form for an hour of so," the girl replied. "That probably has something to do with it."

My attention snapped back to the titan as I heard a faint coughing; it's arm went totally limp, revealing the smoking wound and... something... moving? Straining forward, I confirmed that, yes, something was most certainly moving inside the exposed muscles of the titan's neck. And as I watched, aware of Erwin stiffening beside me, I saw a shape emerge- a distinctly _human_ shape. It ripped itself free of the steaming musculature, coughing slightly and then gasping, wriggling as it fought to tear away from the titan's flesh. The titan itself was beginning to dissipate, just like any other titan corpse.

"Mikasa!" the boy, most likely called _Eren_, shouted down. "M-my leg's really stuck! Give me a hand!"

Huffing softly, the girl motioned to Armin. "You go. I don't trust the runt down here alone."

The blonde boy nodded; took the sword that she handed him and shot up onto the quickly dissolving giant. He wasn't as adept at the 3D Maneuver Gear as the girl, but he managed, at least as well as most of the newer recruits could.

"Care to explain?" I asked Mikasa, and she glowered at me.

"Not particularly."

"I believe that Armin-kun will offer sufficient explanation when he returns," Erwin said diplomatically, one hand materializing on my shoulder. _Don't push it, Levi,_ his tone said, and I shook my head.

_Fine, Erwin. I trust your judgment._

A moment later, the two young boys joined us on the ground- the titan boy, I noted, also wore full 3D Maneuver Gear, although also without the blades. I peered at him curiously, and he stared back, his eyes swirling with something that made me uneasy. Unused to being unnerved by a scrawny brat, I shook my head slightly.

"Shall we go to the top of the Walls?" Armin suggested, and Mikasa nodded, with one more mistrustful look at me.

"If you're set on this idea, Armin. Of course."

"Levi?" Erwin asked, motioning for me to go first. Silently, I echoed the girl's statement.

_If you're set on this idea, Erwin._

The five of us ascended together, although I noticed that the two children- Mikasa and Eren -hemmed Erwin and I in casually, with Armin between and slightly behind them. They moved confidently, especially the girl; I knew that she was prepared to make good on her threat, if we attacked them or tried to enter the district. When we reached the top of the Wall, all three faced us, although again with Armin Arlert between and slightly behind his two companions.

Erwin was the first to sit, with a murmur to me to do the same. For a moment I resisted; it had been a long while since anyone had managed to put me so one edge, since my days on the street, certainly. Arlert sat next; motioned to his companions. Eventually I relented, and the titan boy followed suit. The girl, however, stayed standing; a blatant challenge. It was obvious that she was the most powerful of the group, although none of these feral children should be taken lightly.

"How many of your district are still alive?" Erwin queried; it was the blonde boy who replied.

"Three hundred and twenty one," he said, but then corrected himself. "No; only three twenty. There was a death this morning."

"Do you have a leader?" I asked, already sensing the answer. "Any sort of organization?"

"Of course!" the other, brown-haired boy scoffed; the titan boy. "Without him, none of us would be alive!"

My eyebrows arched. "May I... speak to him?"

The titan boy drew breath to reply, but was cut off by the girl. "Perhaps," she said, her voice low, "but only after the three of _us_ decide we can trust you. We're in charge of screening potential threats, you see, and you haven't yet convinced us that you're harmless."

I furrowed my brow. "Listen, little girl," I said softly, dangerously, "you've done well to survive for this long. But it's time you let the adults handle things; if the Survey Corps is to organize an evacuation of Shiganshina, as I intend to see happens, I need to speak to the person in charge."

"Evacuation is an impossibility," the girl replied evenly. "I know that as well as you do. Don't try to bluff me, or Armin; it will only end with you dead."

I felt dark anger rising in me at the impudence of these children, especially the girl; Erwin's hand on my shoulder calmed me, though, and I sat back slightly as he edged forward.

"Mikasa; Eren; Armin; I can only imagine the types of trauma you people have gone through," he began, and I rolled my eyes. "We're here to help, in any way we can- please believe that."

The blonde boy actually scoffed. "We don't actually need your help," he said, looking a bit put-out; I felt a flicker of suspicion, a theory gaining strength in my mind. "We can support a slightly growing population through our farming, and you've seen the usefulness of Eren's titan Powers when faced with unforeseen incidents. We don't need any outside help."

"But what sort of life will you have, confined to your tiny district?" Erwin pressed, and Mikasa cut in.

"Trust us, Commander- it is anything but boring."

Erwin sighed softly; it was my turn, again, and this time I stood to address the trio of scruffy teenagers before me. The girl glared, her eyes dark with danger, challenging me to take her on; the titan boy was looking at me with undisguised hostility, daring me to question him. But I was no fool.

"You, Mushroom Head," I said, pointing. "I can believe that these two survived in the hell your district must have become, but you? I don't buy it. They look like gangsters; you look more like the bookworm type." _A tactician,_ I added silently. _A strategist._ "These two must have protected you."

"They did," he replied, unflinchingly; my respect for him increased just a bit.

"But why?" I asked- rhetorically. "You must have had a use, despite being so frail." I saw the titan-boy, Eren, begin to object; cut him of with a glare and continued to address the blonde. "The strongest of friendships would crumble under such strain; there must have been a practical reason to keep you alive."

"You're right," the blonde conceded, and then the girl had placed herself bodily between us.

"Leave him alone, Runt," she growled, her hand on the hilt of one blade. "Enough questions."

"You're only digging yourself a deeper hole," I said matter-of-factly, eyes widening a fraction. "I'm not skeptical about the fact that he's your friend and you're very emotionally attached to him, but there's something far beyond that in your protectiveness of him. You move to shield him with your bodies automatically; you always keep him in the corner of your vision. Friends, yes, but something far more serious.

"You're soldiers protecting your king."

I heard an approving murmur from Erwin, behind me; realized, with some mild annoyance, that he had already come to this conclusion a while ago. The girl flinched back; gulped; the titan boy shifted where he sat, bringing one hand up to his mouth for some reason I couldn't pinpoint. To their surprise- and mine, for that matter -the blonde boy stood, stepping in front of the girl.

"You wanted to talk to the person in charge? You have been, this whole time."

I narrowed my eyes. "I suspected as much." Then I shrugged, unconcerned with the latest development, and perhaps even glad of it. "I'm not surprised that such a youngster ended up in a position of power; you were smart enough to realize you needed to wait out the die-off, right?" He nodded. "And the fact that large gangs would never manage to hang on to their power?" Another nod. "Older people wouldn't be able to grasp either of those facts." Then I turned to the two others, who were watching me in bewilderment. "You did well to trust him; it's the reason you're alive, weird-ass titan powers be damned."

"We _know_," the girl retorted, sounding furious. But the titan-boy was watching me with wide eyes, a smile starting to break through as he sprang to his feet.

"Wow! I had heard that you were truly awesome, but man-! You live up to the legends, Corporal!"

"Corporal?'" I echoed distastefully. "What the hell, brat?"

"I've always wanted to join the Survey Corps!" he admitted in a rush. "Before this all happened, it was my dream!"

"Good for you," I said dismissively. I was actually unnerved by the sudden change in his demeanor; it had crossed my mind that anyone who could magically turn into a titan couldn't be entirely right in the head, and his sudden switch from hostility to mania seemed to be supporting that particular suspicion.

"Would you like to?"

I nearly choked on my tongue when I heard Erwin's question; eyes wide, I rounded on my superior.

"What are you thinking?!" I hissed, at exactly the same moment the titan boy, slightly behind me, exclaimed, "That would be amazing!" Rounding on _him_, I gave him a withering glare that didn't seem to work.

"Listen up, brat," I said, actively trying to sound terrifying- I had been told that I was terrifying even when I wasn't trying, so I hoped _trying_ would scare him shitless. "We can't enter your district without your permission, and you don't get to enter _my_ Survey Corps without mine."

The boy didn't flinch, only nodded. "I get that, Corporal," he said seriously, and I felt myself snap.

"I swear to god if you call me Corporal just one more-"

"Levi." Erwin's voice brought me back to my senses; I noticed immediately that the girl had both of her blades out, and shot her a glare before turning to my commander. He looked painfully disapproving, and I felt shamed irritation lance through me.

"Erwin, you can't be serious," I said, forcing my tone to be more reasonable. "We don't know a damn thing about them."

My commander smiled slightly- soothingly. "No more than I knew about you." I felt myself soften, despite the situation. "Do you trust me, Levi?"

"..." Glowering, disgruntled, I glanced at the three children behind me. "... Unconditionally."

"Excellent." Beaming, Erwin set his hand on my shoulder as he came up beside me, addressing the three children. "Then I hereby extend an invitation to all three of you to join the Military, if you wish."

The titan boy's response was instantaneous; the girl, Mikasa, was quick to follow with some sentimental gibberish about how she would go wherever Eren did. The blonde boy responded slower, although I got the impression that there was never a question in his mind, and eventually he too accepted Erwin's generous offer. My commander looked all-too-pleased with himself, and I scowled up at him to try to convey my displeasure. _You and your insane recruitment drives..._

"The 104th Training Division is scheduled to have their final exam a week from now," he informed the children. "I'd consider the life you've led sufficient training, titan powers aside; if you can pass the exam, I'll convince the brass to let you skip the typical three years of schooling. The only condition is that you promise to join the Survey Corps upon graduation."

I forced myself to bite my tongue, hard enough to draw blood; Erwin was making things far too easy for them. I would be the first to admit that very few people in the Survey Corps were entirely right in the head- including myself -but I had severe reservations about these kids. All three of them were feral; unpredictable; wild. They had undoubtedly had to do many terrible things to stay alive, and it had left scars on them- just as such things had left scars on me. I knew how powerful memories like those could be; how they could easily swallow you up and rot your very humanity from the inside out.

titan powers be damned, the Eren boy had seen a lot of death- and brought a lot of it about. I could see the bloodlust etched in his face; in his smile. The girl was unerringly loyal to him- to a flaw. And she appeared to be able to match- or nearly match -my own 3D Maneuver Gear skill already. Anyone that talented should be handled with care; anyone that loyal to a madman was more dangerous than the madman himself.

The blonde boy, Armin Arlert, I admittedly liked the look of. I though it was because he reminded me of Erwin; his mind was sharp and clear, far cleared than that of the other two, and he seemed capable. However, he seemed all-too adept at the art of deception, of manipulation, and I could see his flexible morals reflected in his eyes. Additionally, he wasn't cut out for the military- life as a tactician or scholar would suit him far better, and make better use of his talents.

And then, as if it were possible for there to be even more wrong with the situation, there was the simple fact that Eren could transform himself into a 15m titan. According to Arlert, who seemed to have no compelling reason to lie (in this case, at least), it had been over a year since the last time Eren had lost control of himself. However, no matter what sort of tactical _dream_ this might seem to offer, having a titan on our side, not a thing was known about him... except that he may or may not be more than just slightly off his proverbial rocker.

But Erwin's decision was final. I _did_ trust my commander unconditionally, as many reservations as I had. And victory was impossible without taking calculated risks- that was a fact just like any other. So I sighed; rose; addressed the children.

"Your district will provide shelter for the Survey Corps tonight. We'll set out for home tomorrow morning at dawn. Be ready then if you haven't changed your minds."

... ... ...

The accommodations that Shiganshina had to offer were surprisingly good; it was painfully obvious that the district had been through all manners of hell, but there was a functional inn (although I didn't imagine they got many visitors; the Arlert boy had probably had it prepared it for just such an occasion, as he had already stated that he had been expecting the Survey Corps to show up at some point or other) and we several dozen soldiers were presented with a shockingly decent supper. The people of Shiganshina, too, seemed wary but friendly enough... at least _after_ Arlert had told them the we were honored guests.

I didn't sleep well- I didn't really try, to be honest. I curled up against Erwin's back, unwilling to sleep alone _or _to let him; I didn't trust our surroundings. I could hear people moving about outside; I could hear arguments. The Arlert boy was preparing for their departure; as ruler of the district, effectively king of his own private domain, he had a lot of loose ends to tie up. I hadn't given them much time to prepare; I knew that Erwin would want to get back to the main Walls as soon as possible, to give them at least a couple of days to prepare for the exam.

When morning came, I rose and stretched; told Erwin that yes, I had managed to sleep (although he knew it was a lie), and then made my way downstairs. All of us ate a hearty breakfast- the three children included, although Arlert didn't actually eat, much too busy making some final arrangements -and then set off. The district bid us a warm and reluctant farewell; Armin seemed the most reluctant to leave, and the people reluctant to let him. But the district was functioning just as any other district; able to support itself.

"Why are you prepared to leave so easily?" I asked the blonde suddenly, as we were saddling our horses (the district had also provided us with new mounts). "You've rebuilt this district from the ground up; you have more power and influence than most men could dream of, and you seem to genuinely care about the people you rule. Why leave?"

I saw him pause, thinking; formulating his response before he spoke. "For one thing..." he said, slowly, "I don't actually care all that much; its a bit of an act. Helping the district as a whole benefits my close friends and I. I'm not some saint who saves lives for the sake of saving them." I shivered slightly at his detached tone; knew he was telling me the truth. "For another, I never liked being trapped within the Walls; I didn't like it before the Fall of Maria. I always wanted to see the world, with Eren and with Mikasa. Would someone tied to a throne be able to do that?"

"I suppose not," I admitted. "Then why go to such pains to make sure that Shiganshina survives, even after you're gone? Hasn't it served its purpose?"

And his reply, with a deceptively innocent smile, was, "Always have a back up plan."

Feeling slightly awed and more than a bit unnerved, I swung up onto my mount, deciding that the blonde boy could very well be the most terrifying of them all. Then we were off, galloping through the gates and back out into titan territory, the three children riding beside me. Hanji gave a whoop, as she often did, spurring her horse until she could pull up beside Eren.

"Ne, Eren!" she called, practically drooling; she had been trying to get close to the titan boy all evening and all night, and I growled with annoyance that she had finally managed it. "How do you turn into a titan? What caused it to begin with? Were you born with the power?!"

"Well, I think my dad gave them to me," the boy replied, and my ears perked. "He injected me with something... and then Mikasa and Armin say I went on a rampage and ate him shortly after that. That was the first time I transformed."

_Ate him,_ I acknowledged grimly. _So he _has _eaten people... his own father, no less._

The significance of this fact seemed lost on Hanji, as her face lit up and she gave an enthusiastic, "Oooh!" Before she could ask another question, though, Mikasa had inserted herself between them.

"Eren won't be answering any more of your questions," she growled, one hand on her blades. I rolled my eyes, easing my own horse closer to the scene.

"Stop it, all of you," I growled. "You, girl; you're only here because Erwin thinks you can handle it, so don't think you can order anyone around. And Hanji, you indiscreet bitch, hold off on your obnoxious questions until we're safely home. Don't answer her," I added to Eren, who nodded seriously.

"Yes, Corporal!"

"Stop it, Eren," Armin spoke up tiredly, guiding his horse up to our little clump. "Don't go overboard with this whole 'Corporal' business." His voice held a warning; he clearly didn't want Eren's loyalty drifting to me... or drifting _away_ from him, I realized.

The titan boy shifted uneasily, nodding. "Of course not, Armin," he murmured, although his eyes were still on me. I wondered why his fixation was so sudden and so powerful; Mikasa had said that he had always admired me... Giving myself a brief shake, I shoved the speculation from my mind.

"Break it up," came Erwin's stern order, although he didn't turn from the head of the formation. "Stop gossiping like old women and stay alert."

Irritated that I had been sucked into the little huddle to begin with, I urged my horse forward until I was riding beside Erwin. He glanced over at me- somewhat disapproving.

"Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on the Shiganshina kids?"

"I can't put up with them for another minute," I grumbled, staring straight ahead.

"Levi..."

"Don't 'Levi' me!" I snapped, glaring over at him. "This was your idea- they aren't my responsibility to... to babysit!"

Erwin's eyes softened; I groaned, anticipating what was coming. "Do you trust me?"

"Unconditionally, you bastard."

"Keep an eye on the kids for me, Levi."

Muttering angrily, I let myself drop back, once again falling into a steady gallop between the girl, Mikasa, and Eren. Arlert and Hanji had fallen in beside one another, as well- talking in hushed tones that would have made me worry if I had given half a shit at that point.

"Get away from me, Runt."

Turning baleful eyes on the girl, I grimaced. "I wouldn't be anywhere near you, if I had a choice in the matter. You'd still be back in Shiganshina if I had a choice in the matter."

"Then you'd be dead, Corporal!"

I looked over in surprise at the titan boy; he was smiling, his gaze still glowing adoringly... but glinting with something else entirely, a hard-edged madness that was all but masked by his casual tone and posture.

I forced my body not to shiver. "Oh? How do you figure, brat?"

"Armin said that if-" he began cheerfully, but a loud hiss from the girl cut him off.

"Eren!"

"What?" the boy asked, peering around me at his friend. "They should know that-"

"Eren!" the girl hissed again, her eyes dark. "They most certainly do _not_ need to know certain things!"

Eren's eyes narrowed slightly, but he nodded. "Alright. I don't think Corporal takes us very seriously right now, though," he added, flashing me a smile. This time I couldn't stop the shudder from racing up my spine, setting my fingers twitching around the horse's bridal.

"Oh, I take you brats deadly seriously," I assured him, succeeding in keeping my voice steady despite the unease roiling like nausea through my body. _Erwin, what were you thinking...? There are similarities between these kids and how I used to be... I can feel the darkness in them as clear as you can see the potential...! I trust you, but you should also trust me, damn it...! _

That made the boy's smile widen; unnaturally, gruesomely. "I'm glad to hear that, Corporal!"

... ... ...

I tried to avoid conversing with the children as much as possible; we were making good time, considering, and had managed to avoid any major titan encounters. I was relieved to think that we would be back within the Walls, Fate willing, by early the next morning.

We stopped a bit after midday; set up a temporary camp and ate, our dry rations supplemented with fruits and meat from Shiganshina. The three kids huddled together automatically, although the Arlert boy seemed intent upon weaving his way through the whole of the company; the other two stuck to him like glue, although he shot them baleful glances whenever they- usually the titan boy -scared off whoever he was trying to talk to. I settled myself on a tree trunk, nibbling at some bread and sipping my coffee, to watch them. I didn't like them moving among _my_ men, but Erwin knew what he was doing by allowing it... probably.

A sudden shot rang out, a red smoke round going up at the edge of our encampment. Leaping to my feet, I saw Mike racing back toward us, smoking gun in hand.

"A whole group of titans, coming from the North," he reported, as Erwin came up beside me. Hanji gave a whoop of excitement, but I ignored her; my eyes were on the three children, wondering how they would react. Erwin's thoughts were turned to the same subject, I could tell, as we made for our horses.

"All units, prepare for combat!" he called, swinging up onto his mount. I noted with interest that Arlert was no longer riding alone; he had climbed onto Eren's horse.

And then, before any of us had anticipated, they burst from the trees.

There was a chorus of screams from those closest to the tree line; some soldiers hadn't even managed to get onto their horses yet. I felt the animal beneath me buck in surprise, and clung tightly to its reigns to keep from being thrown off.

"Eld! Olou! Petra! Gunther!" I shouted, grabbing for my Manuveur Gear's triggers. "Format-!"

Before I could even get the order out, there was a tremendous explosion just behind me, the force of which was sufficient to topple my horse and pitch me forward. I flipped, recovering mid-air and landing on my feet, but was momentarily deafened by the roar that split the air. A 15m titan came barreling out from the smoke, each step making the earth shake beneath my feet. The chaos intensified exponentially; rumors had spread, of course, but only a fraction of us had actually seen the so-called Rogue Titan, the boy Eren.

Hanji's cheer was even louder than the titan's roar.

"Get down, get down _everyone_!" Erwin bellowed, and for once I didn't even think of obeying; the order probably didn't extend to me, regardless. Shooting out my cables, I took off after the huge beast, watching in grim apprehension as he charged straight through the ranks of Survey Corps, narrowly missing several fleeing soldiers.

"Don't get in our way!"

I was unsurprised to hear Mikasa's voice as she flew up beside me; glowered in her general direction.

"Tell your pet titan to watch where he's stepping," I growled. "If he squishes _one_ of my men, I'll cut him right out of that titan body and flay him alive."

The girl drew back her lip, but didn't reply; Eren had made contact with the first of the titans, and Mikasa and I split up to hunt our own targets. Again and again I sliced through soft flesh, my movements controlled and precise; I kept an eye on Mikasa, and acknowledged with some concern that her kill total was nearly equal to mine.

Eren, of course, was doing just as well as either of us in that regard. It was quite the sight, watching him fight; watching him tear the other titans limb-from-limb, his own wounds smoking as he sunk teeth and nails into victim after victim. After each kill he would give a bone-shattering roar before charging at the next, his eyes wild and swirling with mad bloodlust- not all that differently from that of common titans.

Within a minute, between the three of us, a dozen or so titans lay in smoking heaps on the ground. Mikasa landed on Eren's shoulder; the titan was trembling and breathing hard, both his hands steaming furiously as they regenerated. His eyes were rolling slightly back in his head, and I braced myself; prepared to attack, should he lose control of himself.

But, after a moment, he simply collapsed; sat down heavily, jarring Armin, who, as it turned out, had been riding on his head the whole time. Then he turned to me; in those glowing green eyes, I saw a monster- a bridled monster, straining against the feeble human holding it under control.

And, for the first time in years, I felt honest, gut-wrenching fear.

"Levi."

Erwin landed beside me, and I was careful not to let the terror bleed through; he didn't seem to notice. I shook my head slowly, turning.

"Tell the brat to get the fuck out of that form," I growled. "I'll deal with the men."

"No, Levi," my commander said sternly, and I nearly snarled in frustration. "You tend to the kids; I'll reassemble the formation."

"Why?" I asked, my voice beginning to crack, despite my best efforts; I glanced furtively at the Shiganshina brats, making sure that they were out of earshot. "Erwin _why_ are you making _me_ responsible for them?! I don't even think they should be here! It's only a matter of time before the titan and the girl turn on us- either that or the Arlert brat ignites some fucking coup d'état!"

"Levi, I agree with you," my commander said, much to my surprise. "And that's why I can only trust you to look after them. So look after the kids for me, Levi."

Closing my eyes briefly, I rubbed at my forehead. "Fine, Erwin, fine. Just answer me this, then: why, if you see the risk so clearly, do you think this whole mess is worth it?"

"Since when do you question me, Levi?" my commander asked mildly- somewhat amused, or so it sounded.

"When I think you're making a mistake."

"Oh? And since when do you think I make mistakes?"

"When you're blinded by your damn insane recruiting methods!" I retorted.

"Like when I offered you-"

"I know how I came into the Survey Corps, I know!" I snapped, then took a deep breath. "I see the similarities, Erwin, I do, but..."

"Trust me, Levi," my commander said simply, and I felt my anger deflate. "I think it's worth the risk because we're fighting a losing war; we can't afford to be careful, not at this point."

"... I understand, Erwin."

"So you'll keep an eye on them?"

I sighed; turned. "Of course. But if things get out of hand, I _will_ kill them, I hope you know."

"I'd expect no less, Levi."


End file.
